Currency News [June 19, 2023]

The Cedi sustained losses at the week’s open against its three major trading partner currencies as a slew of major central banks rate hikes displaces emerging market currencies. Portfolio outflows as the latest inflation data revealed the prevalence of underlying risks to the economic outlook coupled with rising corporate forex demand added to the Cedi’s vulnerabilities with the local unit seen fast resuming its falling trend observed in the early sessions of the year.

The Cedi’s performance this week comes as Ghana races to finalize agreements with its bilateral creditors to restructure its external debts before the first review of Ghana’s Extended Credit Facility programme. The finance minister revealed in a press interaction that Ghana has successfully worked with the Paris Club and other creditors to determine the parameters for official debt restructuring under the G20 common framework for debt treatment. A final conclusion of the agreement will be expected to improve investor confidence to support a stable Cedi.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi traded lower by 0.12%, 2.56%, and 1.77% from trade values of GHS 10.9822, GHS 13.7189, and GHS 11.8043 at last week’s open to begin this week trading at GHS 10.9953, GHS 14.0707, and GHS 12.0129 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Euro stayed on a roller coaster ride against most of its trading pairs after the European Central Bank hiked the bloc’s interest rate for the eighth straight time and signaled further rate hikes to bring the Eurozone’s inflation to its medium-term target.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi dipped by 0.12%, 2.19%, and 1.71% to open the week trading at GHS 11.4038, GHS 14.6030, and GHS 12.4612 from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 11.3897, GHS 14.2906, and GHS 12.2516 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Pound traded higher against a set of currencies including the Cedi on expectations of a Bank of England rate hike later in the week as the UK continues to battle with inflation running at more than four times its target.

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 10.9953 indicating a year-to-date (YTD) loss of 28.00% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also presently being quoted at GHS 11.4038 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 10.0825 indicating a YTD loss of 13.10%.