Currency News [November 14, 2022]

The Cedi this week fell across the board against its three major trading partner currencies resuming its freefall after brief stability against the three. Renewed pressures on the local unit, as measures being adopted by authorities to stabilize the Cedi fails to achieve the desired results, forced the Cedi to touch fresh lows against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro on both the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform and the Open Forex Market (oanda.com).

The Cedi’s movement at the week’s open has been predominantly driven by growing demand for forex for importers coupled with the persistence of negative sentiments surrounding the local currency. The slow pace of negotiations as Ghana struggles to secure an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout program before the year draws to a close has delayed the presentation of a 2023 budget statement to parliament, adding to investor nervousness. Pressures on the Cedi worsened further after the central bank cancelled a planned forex auction, causing the local unit to further spike.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi traded lower by 0.48%, 3.09%, and 3.98% to begin the week trading at GHS 13.0874, GHS 15.3856, and GHS 15.5353 from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 13.0244, GHS 14.9247, and GHS 13.0176 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Cedi added to its losses against the Dollar despite softer-than-expected US inflation data, ramping up expectations that the US Fed will slow its pace of rate hikes.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi plunged by 3.39%, 6.48%, and 6.95% to trade at GHS 14.5854, GHS 17.1669, and GHS 15.0580 at the week’s open from last week’s opening trade values of GHS 14.1066, GHS 16.1225, and GHS 14.0797 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Pound reversed its last week’s losses against the Cedi after UK data revealed that the economy did not contract as much as expected in quarter three.

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 13.0874 indicating a year-to-date (YTD) loss of 117.79% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also presently being quoted at GHS 14.5854 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 6.2112 indicating a YTD loss of 134.82%.