Currency News for January 10, 2022

The Cedi began the year nursing losses against its three major trading partner currencies on both the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform and the Open Forex Market (oanda.com). The weaknesses exhibited by the local unit as the year wrapped up continue to persist buoyed by demand pressures. The Cedi ended 2021 with a year-to-date (ytd) loss of 4.27% slightly lower than that recorded in the preceding year. It however maintained a firm footing against the Pound and the Euro as it posted a stronger year-end performance in 2021 compared to that in 2020.

In a swift effort to stabilize the Cedi going into the year, the central bank has announced plans of continuing its biweekly forex forward rates auctions. To meet the growing demand for Dollars in 2022, the BoG intends to sell USD 25 million more than the USD 50 million it sold biweekly in the first quarter of last year. This coupled with a steady rise in rates on Government securities and the strong pick-up in growth fundamentals will be expected to support the local currency.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi was little changed against the Dollar as it traded at GHS 6.0094 at the start of the week from last week’s opening quote of GHS 6.0091. It tumbled by 0.18% and 0.21% to open the week at GHS 8.1506 and GHS 6.8023 against the Pound and the Euro from last week’s opening trade values of GHS 8.1363 and GHS 6.7882 respectively. The Pound touched new highs against some of its peers amid expectations of a rate hike and easing fears about the economic impact of the Omicron variant.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi plunged by 0.10%, 0.65%, and 0.42% to open the week quoted at GHS 6.2178, GHS 8.4429, and GHS 7.0447 from last week’s opening trade figures of GHS 6.2112, GHS 8.3878, and GHS 7.0152 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Dollar received a boost as investors bet that the December inflation rate will surge to its highest in 40 years which will boost chances of an early Fed rate hike.

The Cedi was quoted at GHC 6.0091 on the first official trading day of the year against the Dollar and is currently being traded at GHS 6.0094 indicating a ytd loss of 0.01 on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is presently being sold at GHS 6.2178 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after starting the year quoted at GHS 6.2112 indicating a ytd depreciation of 0.10%.