Currency News [October 10, 2022]

The Ghana Cedi opened the week mixed 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 local currency was down at the week’s open against the Dollar, adding to previous weeks’ losses. It, however, gained steam to pare some of its losses against the Pound and the Euro.

The Cedi’s performance comes after the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee hiked the policy rate by 250 basis points to 24.5%, the highest in nearly 6 years. The decision was largely influenced by the impact of the pass-through effects of the Cedi’s persistent decline on the inflation outlook. The committee, however, noted that the Cedi’s outlook remained upbeat on the back of the signing of the syndicated cocoa loan of USD 1.13 billion and an arrangement with gold and oil companies to purchase the repatriated exchange earnings of nearly USD 84.0 million.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi traded lower by 0.24% against the Dollar from GHS 9.6296 at last week’s open to reach GHS 9.6523 at this week’s open. The greenback added to its gain against the Cedi as worries over rising interest rates and geopolitical tensions sent investors to seek safety in the Dollar. Against the Pound and the Euro, the Cedi was up by 2.22% and 1.12% to trade at GHS 10.6581 and GHS 9.3582 at the week’s open from last week’s opening trade figures of GHS 10.8998 and GHS 9.4641.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi depreciated by 0.75% from GHS 10.4839 at last week’s open to trade at GHS 10.5627 at this week’s open. It traded higher against the Pound and the Euro, registering a gain of 0.70% and 0.18% from GHS 11.7723 and GHS 10.2796 at last week’s open to begin the week trading at GHS 11.6897 and GHS 10.2611 respectively. The Pound came under pressure against a basket of currencies amid fresh signs of trouble in the UK government bond market after a disorderly selloff in the asset class.

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 9.6523 indicating a year-to-date (YTD) loss of 60.63% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also presently being quoted at GHS 10.5627 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 6.2112 indicating a YTD loss of 70.06%.