Currency News [January 15, 2024]

Renewed pressures on the Cedi exacerbated further into the third week of 2024 as the local currency began the week nursing losses across the board against its three major trading partner currencies on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com). On the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform, however, the Cedi was mixed against its basket of three most traded pairs as it added onto its previous week’s losses against the Dollar and the Pound but rose against the Euro to pare some of its recent losses.

The Cedi’s performance this week comes after the government announced that it had reached an agreement with its Official Creditors in a bid to restore debt sustainability in line with the dictates of Ghana’s programme with the IMF. This development is expected to commence the release of the second tranche of GHS 600.0 million under the Extended Credit Facility programme with the IMF. The Cedi, however, reacted passively to the news as global risk aversion reemerges following the US and the UK airstrikes on Yemen.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi lost by 0.18% and 0.39% to begin the week trading at GHS 11.9137 and GHS 15.1697 from last week’s opening trade values of GHS 11.8928 and GHS 15.1110 against the Dollar and the Pound respectively. Against the Euro, the Cedi traded at GHS 13.0436 at the week’s open from last week’s opening trade value of GHS 13.0616. The single currency weakened against a host of currencies including the Cedi, hurt by data which showed that Germany, the Eurozone’s largest economy, contracted by 0.3% in the final quarter of 2023 and shrank by the same margin over the full-year 2023.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi weakened by 0.20%, 0.28%, and 0.23% to open the week trading at GHS 11.9931, GHS 15.2747, and GHS 13.1361 from last week’s opening trade values of GHS 11.9694, GHS 15.2313, and GHS 13.1058 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Pound’s performance was boosted by data that revealed that Britain’s economy grew slightly stronger than expected in November.

The Cedi was quoted at GHC 11.8859 on the first trading day of the year against the Dollar and is currently being sold at GHS 11.9137 indicating a YTD loss of 0.23% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also presently being quoted at GHS 11.9931 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 11.9945 indicating a YTD gain of 0.01%.