Currency News for April 6th 2020

After posting a weakened performance last week, the Ghanaian Cedi at the start of the week gained momentum to post a mixed performance against its three major trading partner currencies on both the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform and on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com). The Cedi, however, maintained a relatively stable performance as it ended the first quarter of the year with a year-to-date (YTD) appreciation of 1.66% compared with a YTD depreciation of 5.32% over the same period last year.

The local currency has come under pressure in recent times amid global uncertainties as the spreading coronavirus poses risks to global economic growth. This has consequently erased investor confidence in emerging market assets as investors continue to scramble for safe-haven assets and currencies. In Ghana, the finance minister has already hinted that the impact of the pandemic on the local economy will cause the fiscal gap to widen beyond the threshold of the 5% cap.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi lost 1.17% and 0.44% to begin the week trading at GHC 5.5035 and GHC 6.7626 from previous week’s trade values of GHC 5.4401 and GHC 6.7327 against the Dollar and the British Pound Sterling respectively. The greenback built on previous weeks’ gains against the Cedi as investors continue to take shelter in the Dollar amid worsening economic fallout from the outbreak. Against the Euro, the Cedi recovered by 0.70% to trade at GHC 5.9504 at the start of the week from previous week’s trade value of GHC 5.9926.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi dipped by 0.96% against the US Dollar to trade at GHC 5.8112 at the start of the week from previous week’s trade value of GHC 5.7557. It, however, recovered by 0.08% and 1.36% to begin the week trading at GHC 7.1291 and GHC 6.2786 from previous week’s trade values of GHC 7.1349 and GHC 6.3653 against the Pound and the Euro respectively. The Pound fell against many of its trading pairs including the Cedi after ratings agency Fitch cut the UK’s sovereign debt rating last week following a surge in the country’s debt levels as the government ramped up spending to offset a near shutdown of the economy.

According to the Bank of Ghana inter-bank rates, the Ghanaian Cedi began the year 2020 at GHC 5.5370 [January 2nd, 2020] against the US Dollar and is currently selling at GHC 5.5035 [April 6th, 2020] indicating a 0.61% year-to-date appreciation. Similarly, on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Ghanaian Cedi traded at GHC 5.6961 [January 2nd, 2020] and is currently trading at GHC 5.8112 [April 6th, 2020], representing a 2.02% year-to-date depreciation of the Cedi against the US Dollar.