Currency News for November 15, 2021

Ahead of the presentation of the 2022 budget statement to Ghana’s parliament later in the week, the Cedi extended its week-on-week gains against the Pound and the Euro for the third consecutive time on both the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform and the Open Forex Market (oanda.com). The Cedi’s reprieve against the Pound and the Euro comes after the UK and the EU central banks stayed dovish towards policy tightening despite significant climbs in inflation figures.

The government will be expected to outline in its next year budget statement how it intends to address a number of key issues weighing down on the local currency. Concerns over offshore investors repatriating matured bonds proceeds, rising public debt stock, fiscal slippage, amongst others have remained a worry to investors. A clear policy direction towards these concerns will help to boost investor confidence.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi was quoted at GHC 5.9067 at the start of the week against last week’s opening trade value of GHC 5.9053 against the Dollar. The Dollar remained the star of the week against most of its peers following the release of October inflation figures which was printed at 6.2% in the US, the fastest annual pace since 1990. Against the Pound and the Euro, the Cedi surged by 0.85% and 1.40% to trade at GHC 7.9356 and GHC 6.7468 at the start of the week against last week’s opening quote of GHC 8.0034 and GHC 6.8423 respectively.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi declined by 0.68% to open the week trading at GHC 6.1814 from last week’s open trade value of GHC 6.1395. It maintained its resilience against the Pound and the Euro after it edged up by 0.01% and 0.59%. It traded against the pair at GHC 8.2995 and GHC 7.0644 at the start of the week from last week’s opening trade values of GHC 8.3008 and GHC 7.1061 respectively against the Pound and the Euro. Concerns of over renewed lockdown measures in some European countries kept the Euro subdued against some of its peers.

According to the BoG inter-bank rates, the Ghana Cedi began the year 2021 at GHC 5.7631 [January 4th, 2021] against the US Dollar and is currently quoted at GHC 5.9067 [November 15, 2021] indicating a 2.49% year-to-date (ytd) depreciation. Similarly, on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Ghana Cedi traded at GHC 5.8885 [January 4th, 2021] and is currently trading at GHC 6.1814 [November 15, 2021], representing a 4.97% ytd depreciation against the US Dollar.