Currency News [September 23, 2025]

The Ghanaian Cedi failed to capitalize on last week’s US Federal Reserve rate cut to recover sections of its recent depreciation against the greenback as the local unit opened the week extending its losses on both the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform and the Open Forex Market. Last Wednesday’s quarter-point rate cut by the US Fed saw the Dollar lose footing against some of its major international trading pairs. It, however, maintained a stronger footing against riskier and some emerging market currencies.

On the domestic front, Ghana’s central bank last week handed down a historic rate cut, slashing the monetary policy rate by 350 basis points to 21.5%, with the central bank warning that it will continue to monitor macroeconomic developments and will take the appropriate policy decision as and when necessary to reinforce the disinflation process. This notwithstanding, analysts fear that the margin of cut could lead to capital outflow. However, data released by the central bank revealed that Ghana’s external sector strengthened in the first eight months of the year, with a significant trade surplus of USD 6.2 billion compared to USD 2.1 billion recorded over the same period last year. Consequently, Ghana’s gross international reserves remained strong at USD 10.70 billion, representing 4.5 months of import cover as at August 2025, up from USD 8.98 billion representing 4.0 months of import cover at the close of last year. These strong external sector data cement the central bank’s rhetoric of its capability to sustain the Cedi.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi traded down by 0.82%, 0.25%, and 1.06%, having been exchanged for GHS 12.3062, GHS 16.6428, and GHS 14.5149 at the start of the week from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 12.2061, GHS 16.6015, and GHS 14.3624 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro, respectively. The Dollar recovered from its rate cut-induced losses as it edged higher against a basket of peers, helped by positive news about the US jobs market after data showed that the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi slowed down by 0.61% and 0.77% against the Dollar and the Euro to trade at GHS 12.3098 and GHS 14.4874 at the week’s opening from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 12.2347 and GHS 14.3766, respectively. Against the Pound, the Cedi edged up by 0.09% to open the week at a trade value of GHS 16.6117, up from GHS 16.6268 at the start of the previous week. The Pound was hit after the UK’s borrowing surged past the official forecasts that earlier underpinned the government’s tax and spending plans.

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 12.3062, indicating a Year-to-Date (YTD) gain of 16.33% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also presently being quoted at GHS 12.3098 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 14.7134, indicating a YTD gain of 16.34%.