Currency News [July 22, 2024]

Ahead of the presentation of the 2024 mid-year budget review to Ghana’s parliament where the investor’s attention will be on the government’s assessment of the Cedi’s performance in the first half of the year as well as the strategies the government intends to adopt to stabilize the currency in the second half of the year, the local currency was mixed against its three major trading partner currencies at the week’s start.

On the Bank of Ghana (BoG), inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi fell against the Dollar and the Euro but gained traction against the Pound. Similarly, the Cedi weakened against the Dollar and the Euro on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) but held steady against the Pound. The Cedi’s performance at the start of the week comes amid a report from the World Bank which asserted that despite the recent increases in the pace of forex deterioration and slower-than-expected inflation decline, Ghana’s economic indicators remain on track for the rest of the year and beyond.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi depreciated by 0.38% and 0.16% to trade at GHS 14.7885 and GHS 16.0884 at the start of the week from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 14.7327 and GHS 16.0625 against the Dollar and the Euro respectively. Against the Pound, the Cedi traded up by 0.11%, having opened the week at a trade value of GHS 19.0905 from last week’s opening trade value of GHS 19.1112. The Pound lost against a basket of trading pairs after data showed that UK retail sales fell more than expected last month, suggesting that the UK’s consumers were beginning to feel the pinch of high interest rates.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi weakened by 0.39% and 0.28% to open the week at trade values of GHS 15.4782 and GHS 16.8534 from last week’s opening trade values of GHS 15.4181 and GHS 16.8066 against the Dollar and the Pound respectively. The Dollar posted a modest gain against the Cedi following the weekend’s news that President Biden will no longer seek reelection, endorsing the Vice as his potential replacement. Against the Pound, the Cedi remained unchanged at a trade value of GHS 20.0048 at this week’s opening.

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 14.7885 indicating a year-to-date (YTD) loss of 24.39% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also being quoted at GHS 15.4782 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 11.9945 indicating a YTD loss of 29.04%.