Currency News [December 23, 2024]

The Cedi maintained its resilience against its three major trading partner currencies on the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform as it looked set to pare some of its earlier losses against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro after undergoing intense pressures in most part of the year on the back of a weakened forex reserve position amid an untamed demand for forex. However, on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi was mixed, recording its first weekly loss in weeks against the Dollar but maintaining its traction against the Pound and the Euro.

The Cedi’s performance this week has been sustained by the central bank’s intervention in the local currency market as the improved forex reserves position supports the BoG’s market participation. The last Monetary Policy Committee meeting of the BoG revealed that Ghana’s Gross International Reverses stood at USD 7.9 billion (3.5 months of import cover), a significant improvement over the USD 5.2 billion position held over the same period last year. It is expected that this should further help the Cedi to remain firm to close the year.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi traded up by 0.54%, 1.84%, and 1.54% to begin the week at trade values of GHS 14.6573, GHS 18.3627, and 15.2527 from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 14.7374, GHS 18.7076, and GHS 15.4916 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Euro fell against a basket of currencies after the European Central Bank president remarked that the Eurozone was getting closer to reaching the bank’s medium-term inflation goal.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi fell marginally against the Dollar, down by 0.04% to open the week trading at GHS 14.7016 from last week’s opening trade value of GHS 14.6952. The bullish outlook on the Dollar comes on the heels of the greenback breaking above its post-2022 trading range, reflecting renewed confidence among investors driven by robust US economic data and policy expectations. Against the Pound and the Euro, the Cedi soared by 0.81% and 0.85% to open the week trading at GHS 18.4523 and GHS 15.3121 from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 18.6021 and GHS 15.4434.

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 14.6573 indicating a Year-To-Date (YTD) loss of 23.29% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also being quoted at GHS 14.7016 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 11.9945 indicating a YTD loss of 22.57%.