Weekly Currency News Report – Week 20 [May 18 2026]

The Ghanaian Cedi 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), where it extended its weekly losses against the Dollar and the Euro but gained momentum against the Pound. The Cedi’s performance this week comes after Ghana officially announced the completion of its USD 3.0 billion Extended Credit Facility (ECF) bailout programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a development signalling a key turning point in Ghana’s economic recovery path. The announcement has been met with mixed feelings, as some market participants fear the end of the IMF-assisted programme may erode the economic gains achieved, while others expect the government to remain prudent in its spending and exercise fiscal discipline.

During the announcement, Ghana’s finance minister remarked that the country was in no hurry to return to the Eurobond market or seek another bailout arrangement in the near term, but to transition the expiring programme onto a non-financing IMF instrument known as the Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI). The PCI is a framework designed as a non-financing arrangement focused on technical assistance, economic policy coordination, and reform monitoring. The PCI is expected to last for three years, during which the IMF will continue assessing Ghana’s macroeconomic policies and reform implementation while supporting efforts to maintain fiscal discipline and economic stability. The development is expected to further boost investor confidence in the domestic economy as well as the Cedi’s medium-term outlook.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi fell by 1.42% and 0.29% to open the week at trade values of GHS 11.4557 and GHS 13.3433 against the Dollar and the Euro from last week’s opening trade values of GHS 11.2956 and GHS 13.3042, respectively. The Dollar firmed further against a host of its trading pairs as traders upped their bets for interest rate hikes from the US Fed later in the year, after inflation and recent retail sales data supported future monetary tightening. Against the Pound, the Cedi traded up by 0.33%, having begun this week trading at GHS 15.3621 from last week’s opening trade quote of GHS 15.4129.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi traded down by 1.30% and 0.15% against the Dollar and the Euro, having been offered for GHS 11.4465 and GHS 13.3230 at the start of the week, from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 11.2992 and GHS 13.3028, respectively. Against the Pound, the Cedi strengthened by 0.44% to trade at GHS 15.3126 at the start of the week from last week’s opening trade quote of GHS 15.3798. The Pound weakened against some of its trading peers as concerns over rising inflation from higher energy prices, combined with political uncertainty in Britain, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer facing mounting pressure to resign following poor local election results, weighed on the currency.

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 11.4557, indicating a Year-to-Date (YTD) depreciation of 9.05% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also currently quoted at GHS 11.4465 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), having opened the year at GHS 10.5253, indicating a YTD loss of 8.75%.