Ghana: Cedi depreciated by 19.1% to dollar in January 2023 – BoG

The Ghana cedi depreciated by a substantial 19.1% to the US dollar in the first month of 2023.

According to the Bank of Ghana’s January 2023 Summary of Economic and Financial Data, the cedi sold at ¢10.60 to one US dollar in January 2023 on the interbank market, compared with ¢8.57 in December, 2022.

The Central Bank, however, pegged the cedi depreciation to the American greenback in 2022 to 30%.

For the pound and the euro, the local currency lost 21.4% and 20.7% in value respectively in January 2023.

The local currency came under severe pressure to the American currency in January 2023 after recording some sustained stability in the greater part of December 2022.

This was after Ghana reached a Staff-Level Agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

The cedi thus became the second weakest currency among 15 top currencies in Sub-Saharan Africa in January 2023. It is still currently in that position.

It sold at ¢13.10 to one US dollar on the forex or retail market, but has since improved very slightly in value to ¢12.90.

The cedi recorded a sustained stability to the dollar and the major foreign currencies this week.

Some analysts have attributed the marginal gain by the cedi to the barter of gold-for-oil programme which has eased pressure on forex to import oil into the country. The first batch of the gold-for-oil barter (41,000 metric tonnes of oil) arrived last week.

However, the local currency traded at a mid-rate of ¢12.90, losing 1.55% value to the American greenback the previous week.