Currency News [April 25, 2022]

The Ghana Cedi maintained a strong footing as it opened the week recording gains 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 Cedi after coming under intense pressure in the first three months of the year has begun to recover some of its earlier losses as investor confidence gradually picks up.

Report that Ghana’s economy grew by 5.4% in 2021, beating the government’s 5.1% projection, and as the implementation of the electronic levy bill draws nearer helped to lift investors’ confidence in the local economy which has in recent times suffered a shock from rising inflationary trend, currency depreciation, and mounting public debt levels. We expect to see the Cedi hold the Dollar steady in the near term whilst recouping some of its earlier losses against the Pound and the Euro.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi was little changed against the Dollar as it moved marginally from GHS 7.1160 at last week’s open to GHS 7.1159 this week. The Dollar was held by the Cedi despite its gains against a host of currencies on rising expectations for a big US interest rate hike next week. Against the Pound and the Euro, the Cedi was up by 2.14% and 0.72% to trade at GHS 9.0492 and GHS 7.6198 at the start of the week from last week’s opening quotes of GHS 9.2472 and GHS 7.6753 respectively.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi traded higher by 0.68%, 2.73%, and 1.17% to begin the week quoted at GHS 7.5929, GHS 9.6848, and GHS 8.1549 from last week’s opening quotes of GHS 7.6452, GHS 9.9569, and GHS 8.2516 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Cedi recorded its biggest weekly gain yet in 2022 against the Pound as fears over the UK’s long-term economic outlook drove investors to the fence amid soaring inflation and cost-of-living crisis.

The Cedi was quoted at GHC 6.0091 on the first trading day of the year against the Dollar and is currently being sold at GHS 7.1159 indicating a year-to-date (YTD) loss of 18.42% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also presently being quoted at GHS 7.5929 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 6.2112 indicating a YTD loss of 22.24%.