Weekly Currency News Report – Week 16 [April 20 2025]

The Cedi fell across the board for the third consecutive time 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), as investors continue to take solace in safe-haven assets and currencies. The Ghanaian Cedi has been among a number of currencies that have faced headwinds following the start of the US-Israel attacks on Iran. The Middle East crisis, which has lasted for more than a month, has inadvertently culminated in spikes in crude oil prices and disruptions to certain supply chains, amid rising concerns of global inflation undergoing an uptick. These rising uncertainties have fueled the dumping of riskier assets and currencies.

The Cedi, nonetheless, despite having a strong backing as Ghana’s economy continues to perform creditably well whilst remaining on a strong recovery path, has remained susceptible to the ongoing crisis. The local currency has largely been unresponsive to certain Cedi-positive developments, spanning from the release of a report that Ghana recorded an impressive 6.0% economic growth in 2025 to Ghana recording a strong trade surplus in the last quarter of 2025. These developments, along with an upgrade of Ghana’s economic outlook from “stable” to “positive” by Moody’s, have rarely impacted the Cedi. The Cedi is, however, expected to continue to post strong resistance as Ghana’s international reserves remain robust.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi plummeted by 0.14%, 0.58%, and 0.66% to trade at GHS 11.0555, GHS 14.9526, and GHS 13.0170 from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 11.0405, GHS 14.8661, and GHS 12.9315 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro, respectively. The Pound gained against a basket of trading pairs, aided by the release of official GDP data that showed that the UK economy expanded by 0.5% in February, well above expectations for a 0.1% increase.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi depreciated by 0.36%, 0.88%, and 0.87%, having been exchanged for GHS 11.0809, GHS 14.9795, and GHS 13.0437 at the start of the week from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 11.0412, GHS 14.8485, and GHS 12.9310 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro, respectively. The Dollar’s sustained resilience reflected a cautious reassessment of market positioning, as investors showed reluctance to extend bearish bets given stable US interest rate expectations amid rising concerns that prolonged energy price increases could feed into inflation dynamics.

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 11.0555, indicating a Year-to-Date (YTD) depreciation of 5.24% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also currently quoted at GHS 11.0809 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), having opened the year at GHS 10.5253, indicating a YTD loss of 5.28%.