Currency News for July 12th 2021

As investors continue to take a cautious stance against investing in riskier assets and countries on the delta-variant virus wave concerns, the Ghana Cedi began the week nursing losses across the board against its three major trading partner currencies on both the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform and the Open Forex Market (oanda.com).

The Cedi after maintaining a relatively stable performance in the first half of the year, mainly supported by sluggish demand for forex and BoG support, seems to be losing steam as it has worn off all its gains accumulated earlier against the US Dollar and the British Pound Sterling. A series of long-term bonds including a green bond to be sold to both domestic and offshore investors later on in the year will be expected to boost Ghana’s forex reserves to enable the central bank to continue to support the local currency in the event of a shock.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi depreciated by 0.28%, 0.46%, and 0.21% to begin the week trading at GHC 5.7829, GHC 8.0272, and GHC 6.8585 from previous week’s opening trade values of GHC 5.7670, GHC 7.9902, and GHC 6.8438 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Cedi suffered its eighth week-on-week consecutive decline against the Dollar as the greenback regains its safe-haven appeal amid concerns of a spreading delta-variant.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi plunged by 0.52%, 0.79%, and 0.51% to trade at GHC 5.9437, GHC 8.2503, and GHC 7.0515 at the start of the week from last week’s trade values of GHC 5.9128, GHC 8.1860, and GHC 7.0155 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Pound added to its weekly gains against the Cedi after a strong purchasing managers’ report showed that the UK economy is on track to recovery.

According to the Bank of Ghana inter-bank rates, the Ghanaian Cedi began the year 2021 at GHC 5.7631 [January 4th, 2021] against the US Dollar and is currently selling at GHC 5.7829 [July 12th, 2021] indicating a 0.34% year-to-date depreciation. Similarly, on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Ghanaian Cedi traded at GHC 5.8885 [January 4th, 2021] and is currently trading at GHC 5.9437 [July 12th, 2021], representing a 0.94% year-to-date depreciation of the Cedi against the US Dollar.