Currency News [April 2, 2025]

In a rare turn of events, the Cedi posted diverging results as it lost footing at the week’s start, failing to build on the previous week’s gains against its three major trading partner currencies on the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform whilst it gained traction on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) as it built on the gains chalked the previous week. The Cedi’s performance comes after the announcement of the monetary policy rate, which saw its first increase in nearly two years as the central bank renewed its tough stance against inflation, which remains sticky downwards.

The central bank’s monetary policy committee noted that the foreign exchange market is continuing to witness stability in recent months, mainly on the back of improved liquidity from remittance inflows and the domestic gold purchase programme. The committee expects the forex market’s relative stability to persist, supported by stronger reserve buffers and positive market sentiments. Ghana’s Gross International Reserves at the close of February stood at USD 9.4 billion, representing 4.2 months of import cover, a significant jump from USD 5.9 billion at the close of last year.

On the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi traded down by 0.06%, 0.57%, and 0.59% to open the week, being exchanged for GHS 15.5378, GHS 20.1696, and GHS 16.8698 from previous week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 15.5278, GHS 20.0557, and GHS 16.7703 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Euro gained against a host of peers as the single currency was helped by February’s retail sales in the bloc’s largest economy, Germany, which exceeded expectations, suggesting that confidence may be rising in the German consumer.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi soared by 0.26%, 0.21%, and 0.24% to trade at GHS 15.5095, GHS 20.0641, and GHS 16.7844 at the start of the week from the previous week’s opening trade values of GHS 15.5495, GHS 20.1073, and GHS 16.8242 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro respectively. The Dollar lost its luster against some of its trading pairs as currency traders grew nervous over concerns that increased trade tariffs under President Trump will ignite inflation and crimp economic growth.

The Cedi was quoted at GHC 14.7074 on the first trading day of the year against the Dollar and is currently being sold at GHS 15.5378, indicating a Year-to-Date (YTD) depreciation of 5.65% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also presently being quoted at GHS 15.5095 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com) after opening the year at GHS 14.7134, indicating a YTD loss of 5.41%.