THE CEDI hit a fresh record low against the dollar this week, trading at 7.159 from 7.084 at last week’s close.
Ghana’s challenging economic backdrop, which saw inflation rise to an almost six-year high of 15.7% in February, left the Bank of Ghana unable to sell as many bonds as planned at its five-year debt auction at the end of last week.
Investors bought GHS862 million of the GHS1 billion on offer, with an interest rate of 20.75%, the higher end of price guidance.
AZA Finance, Africa’s largest non-bank currency broker by trading volume at over $1 billion annually, which made this known in its latest survey, stated “We expect the pressure on the Cedi to continue over the coming week.”
According to the daily interbank foreign exchange (FX) rates published by the Bank of Ghana, as of March 15, 2022, the cedi plunged by 17.1 percent against the US dollar, selling at GH¢7.03 to a dollar, recording the worst performance since August 2015, when it depreciated against the dollar by 18.4 percent.
A look at data from commercial banks on how much the dollar is sold on the market gives a more bleak picture.
Some market watchers have predicted more doom for the local currency, with some projecting it will hit more than GH¢8 soon.