Currency News [August 21, 2023]

In a week where the market is expecting the government of Ghana to signal to investors the robustness of the local economy to honour interest payments on its bonds under the Domestic Debt Exchange Peogramme (DDEP), the 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 unit extended its week-on-week gains against the Euro at the week’s open but failed to sustain its recent gains against the Dollar and the Pound.

The Cedi’s performance comes as Ghana readies to make the first interest payment on the DDEP bonds, a move which is expected to demonstrate the government’s commitment and ability to restore investor confidence in the domestic economy. The Cedi in the coming weeks is also expected to steady against its major trading partner currencies on the back of a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) which predicts that Ghana will reach an agreement with its external creditors in the coming weeks to pave way for the restructuring of its foreign-denominated debts.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi lost by 0.01% and 0.47% to begin the week trading at GHS 11.0106 and GHS 14.0429 from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 11.0095 and GHS 13.9777 against the Dollar and the Pound respectively. The Pound strengthened against the Cedi and some peers after data showed that the UK borrowed less than expected in July, increasing the options for the government to boost the country’s stagnating economy. Against the Euro, the Cedi added 0.19% to its recent gains to open the week at a trade value of GHS 12.0025 from last week’s opening trade value of GHS 12.0248.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi was down by 0.29% and 0.79% from last week’s opening trade values of GHS 11.2811 and GHS 14.3075 to begin this week at trade quotes of GHS 11.3140 and GHS 14.4203 against the Dollar and the Pound respectively. Against the Euro, the Cedi nudged up by 0.03% to trade at 12.3223 at the week’s opening from last week’s opening trade value of GHS 12.3258. The Euro suffered a blow as the Eurozone’s inflation began to retreat whilst the region’s economy has broadly stagnated over the past few quarters.

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 11.0106 indicating a YTD loss of 28.17% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also presently being quoted at GHS 11.3140 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 10.0825 indicating a YTD loss of 12.21%.