Currency News [February 26, 2024]

Ahead of this week’s State of the Nation address to parliament where the president will be expected to touch on a varied number of issues including how the national currency has fared and the policies the government intends to adopt to stabilize the local currency going forward, the Cedi opened the week pressured 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 Cedi has remained pressured over the past couple of weeks despite the central bank’s continuous intervention in both the spot and forward forex rates markets. In recent times, the central bank has sold USD 18.5 million on the currency spot market according to media reports to counter a sudden sharp rise in forex demand from businesses, importers, and investors in the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme bond whose coupon payments were due last week. Despite the emerging resilience in the local economy, the Cedi is expected to remain pressured in the near term.

On the BOG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi depreciated by 0.89%, 1.65%, and 1.67% to open the week trading at GHS 12.3967, GHS 15.7207, and GHS 13.4511 from last week’s opening trade values of GHS 12.2875, GHS 15.4651, and GHS 13.2305 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Pound strengthened against a basket of peers aided by data from a British business activity survey which came in stronger than expected and showed robust growth for the services firms.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi weakened by 0.32%, 0.87%, and 0.88% to trade at GHS 12.5353, GHS 15.8915, and GHS 13.5873 at this week’s opening from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 12.4959, GHS 15.7550, and GHS 13.4686 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Euro received a boost from a survey that revealed that the downturn in Eurozone business activity eased in February, suggesting signs of recovery.

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 12.3967 indicating a YTD loss of 4.27% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also presently being quoted at GHS 12.5353 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 11.9945 indicating a YTD loss of 4.51%.