Currency News [September 19, 2022]

The Cedi came under heavy pressure on the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) inter-bank trading platform ahead of a slew of central bank meetings this week which is expected to see further policy tightening across the advanced economies. The Cedi fell to record lows, breaking past GHS 9.0000, GHS 10.0000, and GHS 9.0000 levels for the first time at the week’s open against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. The local unit, however, pared some of its losses on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) as it recorded gains against the three.

The Cedi’s performance this week comes ahead of a BoG Monetary Policy Committee meeting where the committee will be expected to carefully weigh the cost of adding to an already existing high policy rate regime and an attempt to drive the cost of credit lower to induce production. Investors and market watchers will, however, expect the committee to hike the policy rate after the recently released inflation print put August’s inflation rate at a 21-year high at 33.9%.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi traded 9.10%, 6.33%, and 7.77% lower to begin the week at GHS 9.0145, GHS 10.2801, and 9.0200 from last week’s opening quotes of GHS 8.2626, GHS 9.6681, and GHS 8.3699 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Dollar edged higher against a host of currencies as investors brace for another aggressive rate hike by the US Fed in an attempt to rein in overheated inflation.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi was up by 0.01%, 2.25%, and 1.20% to trade at GHS 10.0902, GHS 11.5090, and GHS 10.0919 at the week’s open from last week’s opening trade values of GHS 10.0913, GHS 11.7737, and GHS 10.2143 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Euro weakened against the Cedi as the Euro area continued to grapple with an energy crisis that showed no signs of easing, adding to the region’s inflation struggles.

The Cedi was quoted at GHC 6.0091 on the first trading day of the year against the Dollar and is currently being sold at GHS 9.0145 indicating a year-to-date (YTD) loss of 50.01% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also presently being quoted at GHS 10.0902 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 6.2112 indicating a YTD loss of 62.45%.