Currency News [February 13, 2023]

Progress made as Ghana wrapped up its Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) boosted the Cedi’s appeal on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) with the local unit maintaining its traction to build on gains chocked last week against its three major trading partner currencies. However, on the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi was mixed as it built on gains recorded against the Dollar but failed to add to gains against the Dollar and the Euro.

The Cedi’s performance was amid a successful completion of the DDEP with Ghana’s finance ministry announcing that it had met its target of 80% participation in eligible bonds, an essential component in the sovereign’s quest to restructure its debt and to access a USD 3.0 billion IMF bailout. Analysts believe that a successful DDEP will boost market confidence and impact positively on the Cedi’s outlook.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi lost by 0.01% and 0.88% against the Dollar and the Pound, having begun the week trading at GHS 10.8052 and GHS 13.1078 from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 10.8041 and GHS 12.9941 respectively. The Dollar recovered from last week’s loss against the Cedi as the market awaits a hotly anticipated inflation reading which is expected to dictate the pace of future US interest rate hikes. Against the Euro, the Cedi traded up by 0.15%, having risen from last week’s opening trade value of GHS 11.5946 to open this week trading at GHS 11.5773.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi surged by 0.55%, 0.17%, and 1.18% to begin the week trading at GHS 12.3063, GHS 14.8755, and GHS 13.1591 from last week’s opening trade figures of GHS 12.3738, GHS 14.9005, and GHS 13.3161 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Pound traded lower against a host of currencies including the Cedi after data released last week revealed that while the UK narrowly escaped a technical recession in the last quarter of 2022, gross domestic product still fell in December.

The Cedi was quoted at GHC 8.5903 on the first trading day of the year against the Dollar and is currently being sold at GHS 10.8052 indicating a year-to-date (YTD) loss of 25.78% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also presently being quoted at GHS 12.3063 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 10.0825 indicating a YTD loss of 22.06%.