Currency News [August 12, 2024]

The local currency has begun to respond to the impact of the impending interest payments on the Domestic Debt Exchange (DDEP) bonds due later in the month where there are concerns over the repatriation of investment proceeds by offshore investors. The Cedi thus failed to maintain its recent traction against some of its major international trading partner currencies as it opened the week nursing losses across the board against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro.

After undergoing some respite over the past two weeks following the central bank’s intervention in the domestic spot currency market, a rise in demand for forex by corporate institutions amid the resurgence of speculative activities has revived pressures on the Cedi. The government will be expected to make semi-annual interest payments on the DDEP bonds next week where over GHS 2.0 billion is expected to be paid to investors including offshore investors who are likely to repatriate their earnings.

On the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi plunged by 0.83%, 1.38%, and 0.85% to open the week at trade values of GHS 15.1232, GHS 19.3108, and GHS 16.5233 from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 14.9986, GHS 19.0482, and GHS 16.3842 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. After a turbulent week where the Dollar suffered some setbacks triggered in large part by surprisingly soft US payroll numbers that sent global stocks tumbling a week ago, the Dollar found support after stronger-than-expected US jobless claims allayed fears of a looming recession in the US.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi traded down by 0.78%, 0.71%, and 0.57% having begun the week trading at GHS 15.6239, GHS 19.9456, and GHS 17.0701 from last week’s opening trade values of GHS 15.5026, GHS 19.8052, and GHS 16.9730 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Pound recovered from its last week’s losses against the Cedi boosted by data that showed that the UK wage growth rose to beat the market’s expectation, suggesting the Bank of England will have difficulty in completely reining in inflation.

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 15.1232 indicating a year-to-date (YTD) loss of 27.21% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also being quoted at GHS 15.6239 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 11.9945 indicating a YTD loss of 30.26%.