Currency News [July 29, 2024]

The Cedi maintained its recent traction against some of its trading partner currencies after it opened the week mixed 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’s performance at this week’s opening comes after the presentation of the mid-year budget statement and the announcement of the monetary policy rate which the market watched with keen interest for measures the government intends to employ to stabilize the local currency in the second half of the year.

Presenting the mid-year budget statement to Ghana’s parliament, the finance minister touted the gradual turning around of the domestic economy with most macroeconomic variables such as the growth rate, inflation, and gross international reserves pointing in the right direction. Commenting on the Cedi’s half-year performance, the minister noted that the local currency has experienced a relatively moderate depreciation compared to last year. The minister, however, did not announce measures to be implemented to keep the Cedi stable in the medium term.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi traded down by 0.37% against the Dollar after it opened the week trading at GHS 14.8432 from last week’s opening trade quote of GHS 14.7885. The dollar was supported by data that showed that the US economy expanded faster than expected while inflation slowed in the second quarter. Against the Pound and the Euro, the Cedi traded up by 0.08% and 0.17% to begin the week at trade values of GHS 19.0750 and GHS 16.0618 from last week’s opening trade values of GHS 19.0905 and GHS 16.0884 respectively.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi plummeted by 0.29% against the Dollar having opened the week at a trade value of GHS 15.5233 from last week’s opening trade value of GHS 15.4782. Against the Pound and the Euro, the Cedi soared by 0.23% and 0.19% to trade at GHS 19.9591 and GHS 16.8221 at the week’s opening from last week’s opening trade values of GHS 20.0048 and GHS 16.8534 respectively. The Euro weakened against the Cedi and other trading pairs after the release of disappointing Eurozone activity data which hinted at further rate cuts.

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 14.8432 indicating a year-to-date (YTD) loss of 24.85% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also being quoted at GHS 15.5233 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 11.9945 indicating a YTD loss of 29.42%.