Currency News [June 10, 2024]

After weeks of sustaining sharp declines, the Ghanaian Cedi showed some bit of calm this week as it 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 Cedi slowed down its rate of decline against the Dollar and the Pound while against the Euro, it gathered momentum to recover sections of its previous weeks’ losses.

The Cedi’s performance this week comes as the recently experienced hyper demand for forex amid a surge in speculation cools off with measures detailed by the central bank to keep the local currency in check beginning to render support to the pressured Cedi. News that Ghana and its bilateral creditors had concluded discussions on the USD 5.4 billion debt restructuring is expected to help sustain the Cedi. This development is also expected to escalate the release of the next tranche of USD 360.0 million from the International Monetary Fund.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi traded down by 0.50% and 0.06% to begin the week at trade values of GHS 14.2067 and GHS 18.0880 from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 14.1365 and GHS 18.0763 against the Dollar and the Pound respectively. Against the Euro, the Cedi traded up by 0.67%, having begun the week at a trade value of GHS 15.2796 from last week’s opening trade quote of GHS 15.3828. The Euro lost footing, pressured by investor fears that gains Eurosceptics in the European elections and the calling of a snap French election could complicate European Union attempts to deepen integration.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi depreciated by 0.94% and 0.64% against the Dollar and the Pound after opening the week trading at GHS 14.9741 and GHS 19.0490 from last week’s opening trade values of GHS 14.8342 and GHS 18.9275 respectively. The Dollar added to its gains against the Cedi, supported by higher Treasury yields on the back of stronger-than-expected jobs data last week as the market pared back bets for Fed rate cuts this year. Against the Euro, the Cedi was up by 0.08% to begin the week at a trade value of GHS 16.1090 from last week’s opening trade value of GHS 16.1216.

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 14.2067 indicating a YTD loss of 19.50% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also being quoted at GHS 14.9741 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 11.9945 indicating a YTD loss of 24.84%.