Currency News [September 12, 2022]

The Ghana Cedi opened weaker at the week’s open against its three major trading partner currencies after hosting a brief rally against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com). The Cedi’s gain was short-lived as forex demand pressures intensified despite signs of improved forex reserve position induced by the coming on board of a USD 750 million loan facility from the African Export-Import Bank as part of a USD 1.0 billion loan facility.

News of the loan facility had minimal impact on the Cedi as demand for Dollars cooled off temporally. Results of the latest forex forward rates auction held late last month showed that bids tendered subdued the central bank’s target by 4.31 times compared to 4.38 times in the previous auction. The Cedi’s performance in the coming weeks will largely hinge on progress made in the International Monetary Fund’s bailout program being sought by the government and an expected USD 1.3 billion cocoa syndicated loan facility.

On the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi was down by 0.24%, 1.85%, and 2.29% having begun the week trading at GHS 8.2626, GHS 9.6681, and GHS 8.3699 from last week’s opening quotes of GHS 8.2426, GHS 9.4922, and GHS 8.1829 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Euro upturned its 0.45% loss registered against the Cedi last week after the European Central Bank (ECB) raised its key deposit rate to 0.75% from 0%, the largest hike in the history of the ECB while keeping the gate open on more aggressive hikes.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi reversed its last week’s gains, opening the week 0.66%, 2.12%, and 2.68% lower against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro at trade values of GHS 10.0913, GHS 11.7737, and GHS 10.2143 at the start of the week from last week’s opening quotes of GHS 10.0253, GHS 11.5297, and GHS 9.9476 respectively. The Dollar edged higher against the Cedi and a host of currencies on the back of the release of a hotly anticipated US inflation date, which is expected to support the Fed’s hawkish stance.

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 8.2626 indicating a year-to-date (YTD) loss of 37.50% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also presently being quoted at GHS 10.0913 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 6.2112 indicating a YTD loss of 62.47%.