Cedi makes impressive gains against major currencies

Accra, Jan. 20, GNA - The Ghana cedi on Tuesday made impressive gains against the UK Pound, the Euro and the CFA but depreciated slightly against the dollar pulling down once again the Gold Coast Securities (GCS)-Cedi Index by 0.63 points.

The cedi gained 7.59GHp against the Pound, 6.69GHp to the CFA and 2.72GHp to the Euro but depreciated 1.01GHp to the dollar. The Index, which measures the average performance of the cedi against its major trading currencies, therefore, went down at 119.08 points on Tuesday from 119.71 points last Friday. The cedi gains value when the index goes down and it loses value when the index goes up.

The year-to-date depreciation is 2.64 percent to the dollar and a year-to-date appreciation of 1.50 percent to the Pound, 4.19 percent to the Euro and 4.37 percent to the CFA. The Index change for the year to date and change base year (July 03 2007) to date now stands at 0.30 per cent and 18.12 per cent respectively.

The Index is calculated as a geometric weighted average of changes in the four currency rates against the cedi at the Inter-bank market, relative to a base of 100 set on 03 July 2007, when the Bank of Ghana redenominated the national currency at a base value of 100. It is inversely proportional. A quote of 105.50 means the cedi value has depreciated by 5.50 per cent since the base period, while a quote of 85.3 means the cedi has gained by 14.77 per cent since its base year.

The following are the exchange rates for the four currencies on Tuesday, January 20, 2009.

Currency Buying Selling Depreciation (-)/Appreciation (+) (GH¢) (GH¢) (Gp)

Dollar 1.2279 1.2643 - 1.01

Pound 1.7171 1.7686 + 7.59

Euro 1.5927 1.6394 + 2.72

Equivalence of currency to one GH¢

CFA 400.12 411.85 + 6.69