Weekly Currency News Report – Week 19 [May 11 2025]

The Ghanaian Cedi, alongside some other emerging market currencies, continued to face headwinds stemming from the ongoing Middle East crisis, as global financial markets struggled to find a clear direction amid the continued deadlock in the Middle East ceasefire negotiations. The local unit consequently extended its weekly losing streak for the sixth consecutive time, 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 posted a comparatively bigger margin of decrease at the week’s opening, showing less receptiveness to news last week, where Fitch Ratings upgraded Ghana’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency (LTFC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘B’ from ‘B-‘, with a Positive outlook. According to Fitch, the upgrade reflected a sharp fall in public debt/GDP, supported by robust real GDP growth, substantial fiscal consolidation efforts, currency appreciation, and a marked increase in international reserves that lowers external liquidity risks. The Positive Outlook, on the other hand, according to Fitch, reflected their expectation of continued fiscal prudence underpinned by improved public financial management, further normalization of macroeconomic conditions, as evidenced by an expected decline in average inflation and further building of external buffers. Although the Cedi is expected to remain pressured, some positive phenomena clouding the domestic economy are likely to boost the local unit’s outlook.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi traded down by 0.57%, 1.52%, and 1.34%, having been offered for GHS 11.2956, GHS 15.4129, and GHS 13.3042 at the start of this week, from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 11.2313, GHS 15.1825, and GHS 13.1280 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro, respectively. The Dollar continued to maintain a strong footing against most of its trading pairs, as investors sought solace in the Dollar and other safe havens as the crisis prolonged.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi lost by 0.77%, 1.17%, and 1.31% to trade at GHS 11.2992, GHS 15.3798, and GHS 13.3028 at the start of the week, from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 12.2132, GHS 15.2022, and GHS 13.1309 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro, respectively. The Pound gained against some weaker currencies despite struggling against some peers, hurt by Britain’s ruling Labour party suffering heavy losses in local council elections, with some Labour lawmakers calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign, raising the prospect of leadership instability.

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 11.2956, indicating a Year-to-Date (YTD) depreciation of 7.52% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also currently quoted at GHS 11.2992 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), having opened the year at GHS 10.5253, indicating a YTD loss of 7.35%.