Weekly Currency News Report – Week 11 [March 16, 2025]

The Ghanaian Cedi, alongside some emerging market and riskier currencies, continues to bear the brunt of the ongoing Middle East crisis as global investors are seen unwinding cross-border exposures, pushing money into safe havens at the detriment of currencies issued by net energy importers. The Cedi accordingly opened the week nursing losses across the board against its three major trading partner currencies on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com). On the Bank of Ghana (BoG) inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi built on the previous week’s losses against the Dollar and the Pound, whilst maintaining a strong footing against the pressured Euro.

The Cedi’s performance at the start of the week comes ahead of this week’s monetary policy committee sittings, where, although recent relevant macroeconomic indicators support another policy easing, the committee will be expected to act cautiously in the face of rising geopolitical tensions. Key on the committee’s agenda, as has already been iterated by the central bank’s governor, will be the geopolitical risk channel and its implications for policy calibration. Despite these emerging headwinds, interim data released by the central bank have revealed that Ghana’s external buffers have strengthened further, with the gross international reserves now reaching USD 14.5 billion, equivalent to 5.8 months of import cover, up from USD 13.8 billion in January. This is expected to assure the market of the central bank’s ability to intervene in the domestic forex market.

On the BoG inter-bank trading platform, the Cedi plummeted by 0.83% and 0.14% to open the week, being offered for GHS 10.8754 and GHS 14.4698 from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 10.7854 and GHS 14.4492 against the Dollar and the Pound, respectively. The Dollar continued to firm up against most of its trading pairs, as the greenback remains a favoured safe asset of choice as the market struggles to see a way out of the Middle East crisis. Against the Euro, the Cedi edged up by 0.04% to trade at GHS 12.4966 at the start of the week from last week’s opening trade value of GHS 12.5015.

On the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), the Cedi plunged by 0.87%, 0.29%, and 0.04%, having been exchanged for GHS 10.8978, GHS 14.4761, and GHS 12.5035 at the start of the week from last week’s opening trade quotes of GHS 10.8038, GHS 14.4345, and GHS 12.4983 against the Dollar, the Pound, and the Euro, respectively. The Pound rose against a set of currencies, displaying a negative correlation to surging energy costs, primarily driven by the view that the UK faces a larger inflation problem and the Bank of England’s policy is likely to be influenced more significantly by energy prices.

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 10.8754, indicating a Year-to-Date (YTD) depreciation of 3.52% on the BoG inter-bank trading platform. It is also currently quoted at GHS 10.8978 on the Open Forex Market (oanda.com), having opened the year at GHS 10.5253, indicating a YTD loss of 3.54%.