Currency News [March 17, 2025]

The Cedi was unresponsive to the recently read budget statement despite the government announcing some measures it intends to adopt in the year and beyond to stabilize the struggling local currency, which has lost over 5.0% of its value since the start of the year. The Cedi at the start of the week continued to sustain losses against the Pound and the Euro. It however remained unchanged on the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform while on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), it picked up steam to recover some of its recent losses.

Commenting on the Cedi’s previous year’s performance, the finance minister noted that the local currency was able to regain some value in the fourth quarter supported by a strong reserves position, banks’ participation in the gold purchase programme for foreign currency, positive sentiments from the progress made in the debt restructuring, and continued tight liquidity management. On policies the new administration intends to implement to revamp the Cedi, the minister stated that there are plans to submit a bill to Ghana’s parliament to provide a legal framework for the establishment of a Ghana Gold Board as part of measures to stabilize the Cedi through foreign exchange and gold reserve accumulation.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi was unchanged against the Dollar, opening the week at a trade value of GHS 15.5478. Against the Pound and the Euro, the Cedi lost by 0.67% and 0.75% to trade at GHS 20.1888 and GHS 16.9737 at the start of the week from previous week’s opening trade values of GHS 20.0535 and GHS 16.8474 respectively. The Euro traded higher against a host of peers after German parties agreed on a fiscal deal last week that could boost defence spending and revive growth in Europe’s largest economy.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi gained by 0.07% against the Dollar, haven been exchanged for GHS 15.5292 at this week’s opening from last week’s opening trade quote of GHS 15.5403. The Dollar weakened against some of its trading pairs on concerns over the effect of Trump’s sweeping tariffs, with data last week showing consumer sentiment plunged to a nearly two-and-a-half-year low. Against the Pound and the Euro, the Cedi plummeted by 0.39% and 0.50% to open the week at trade values of GHS 20.1333 and GHS 16.9291 from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 20.0552 and GHS 16.8451 respectively.

The Cedi was quoted at GHC 14.7074 on the first trading day of the year against the Dollar and is currently being sold at GHS 15.5478 indicating a Year-to-Date (YTD) depreciation of 5.71% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also presently being quoted at GHS 15.5292 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 14.7134 indicating a YTD loss of 5.54%.