Weekly Currency News Report – Week 34 [August 24 2026]

A broad Dollar sell-off, driven by an unscheduled US Treasury buyback intervention to cap long-end bond yields, which boosted risk appetite across global markets, failed to sustain the Cedi’s short-lived rally. The local currency last week embarked on an impressive rally, recouping an average of 6.0% of its losses this year across the board against its three major trading partner currencies on both the Bank of Ghana (BoG) interbank trading platform and the Open Forex Market (oanda.com). In the absence of any major economic data, analysts asserted that the rally was largely sustained by the central bank’s regular forex market intermediation alongside some expected inflows, boosting the Cedi’s outlook.

The Cedi, however, began this week failing to hold onto the gains made as demand pressures pick up momentum. Last week, the government announced that it had paid GHS 10.82 billion to holders of its Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) bonds, bringing the total amount paid to bondholders since 2025 to a little above GHS 40.0 billion. Although the government expected the payment would boost investor confidence, reduce Ghana’s sovereign default risk, and reinforce the country’s financial credibility, payments to offshore bondholders added to already-existing demand pressures, as such investors bought foreign currency to repatriate their proceeds to their countries of origin. The Cedi is expected to remain range-bound as gains from expected inflows are likely to be offset by rising forex demand for import bills and other forex payables.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi traded down by 1.14%, 1.69%, and 1.83% to open the week being sold for GHS 11.1306, GHS 15.1754, and GHS 12.9860 from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 11.0055, GHS 14.9235, and GHS 12.7529 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro, respectively. The Dollar maintained a strong footing against a set of weaker currencies as rising oil prices boosted safe-haven demand, despite weakening against some major peers, battered by deep-seated fiscal concerns.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi lost by 1.55%, 2.18%, and 2.28%, to trade at GHS 11.1708, 15.2354, and GHS 13.0370 at the start of the week, from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 11.0000, GHS 14.9097, and GHS 12.7464 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro, respectively. The Pound received a boost from government data last week, which showed headline annual consumer inflation accelerating in July from June.

The Cedi was quoted at GHC 10.5053 on the first trading day of the year against the Dollar and is currently trading at GHS 11.1306, indicating a year-to-date (YTD) depreciation of 5.95% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also currently quoted at GHS 11.1708 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), having opened the year at GHS 10.5253, indicating a YTD loss of 6.13%.