Currency News [March 20, 2023]

The Ghana Cedi came under pressure at the week’s open as it began the week nursing losses against its three major trading partner currencies on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after a brief recovery fueled by growing optimism that Ghana was drawing closer to reaching an IMF bailout. However, the slow pace of the negotiations coupled with investors fleeing from riskier assets and currencies following concerns that a full-blown global banking crisis may be brewing added to the Cedi’s vulnerabilities.

Ghana’s finance minister is scheduled to meet with Chinese officials this week for bilateral talks on debt restructuring and financing assurances. A successful meeting will put Ghana on the right course towards reaching the IMF deal to put the domestic economy on a debt sustainability path. The Cedi’s outlook is, however, expected to be hit by strong corporate demand as companies prep for dividend payouts.

On the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi was little changed against the Dollar as it dipped slightly from GHS 11.0191 at last week’s open to trade at GHS 11.0195 at this week’s open. The greenback rose marginally against a host of currencies after strong inflation data revived the likelihood that the US Fed will continue to hike interest rates as fears of banking sector turmoil recede. Against the Pound, it lost by 0.92% to open the week trading at GHS 13.5165 from last week’s opening trade value of GHS 13.3937. The Cedi came in strong against the Euro, recording an appreciation of 0.11% to trade at GHS 11.8120 at the start of the week from GHS 11.8246 at last week’s open.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi plummeted by 0.09%, 0.92%, and 0.16% to trade at GHS 12.4249, GHS 15.1934, and GHS 13.3195 at the week’s open from last week’s opening quotes of GHS 12.4135, GHS 15.0553, and GHS 13.2980 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Euro crawled back some of its losses against the Cedi after the European Central Bank handed down another policy tightening last week.

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 11.0195 indicating a year-to-date (YTD) loss of 28.28% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also presently being quoted at GHS 12.4249 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 10.0825 indicating a YTD loss of 23.23%.