Cedi, 5th worst currency in Africa

The Ghana Cedi is now the fifth worst performing currency on the African continent this year despite dollar inflows from the Eurobond and other Government of Ghana securities.

The South African Rand, Swaziland’s Lilangeni, Lesotho’s Loti and Namibia’s Dollar are the worst performing currency on the African continent depreciating by 21.1 percent against the US Dollar till date.

The local currency had depreciated by about 12.9 percent against the American Dollar, making it the worst performing currency in the ECOWAS sub region. It has beaten most analysts’ estimation. The Ghana Cedi depreciated by 0.7 percent against the US Dollar last week.

The Independent Business learnt increased dollar demand to cover import bills and other factors have undermined the local currency despite dollar inflows.

“Despite raising USD one billion in Eurobond funds in July, the Ghana Cedi remains under pressure, reflecting the large fiscal and current account deficits, and a slowdown in export receipts,” Ecobank Research disclosed.

It urged the Bank of Ghana to reinforce the exchange rate policy to support local currency short term outlook.

The local currency is presently trading between 1.99 and 2 Ghana Cedi to the US Dollar on the interbank forex market and 2.04 and 2.07 to the dollar on the forex market.