The Ghana Cedi, according to Bloomberg is in currently in tatters, having depreciated by over GHC2 in the last week, compounding the ever-depreciating currency against major foreign currencies.
Bloomberg tracked the performance of 150 currencies in the world and the Cedi placed last in terms of performance since the beginning of the year.
“The Cedi fell 1.6% on Tuesday, August 16, extending this year’s slump to 35% and making it the world’s worst performer among 150 currencies tracked, after bankrupt Sri Lanka’s rupee,” Bloomberg said.
Within 8 months, the Cedi has come under intense exchange rate pressure due to its continuous depreciation to some major international currencies such as the Dollar, Pound and Euro.
Data from the Bank of Ghana indicate that the Cedi began the year at $1.00 to GH¢6.02. Just a month ago, one could exchange $1.00 for GH¢7.43, and in less than 20 days, traders needed an average of GH¢9.37 to buy $1.00.
This indicates that the Cedi has lost more than GH¢3.30 of its value to the dollar in less done 8 months.
Ghana’s economy is struggling to survive as inflation continues to dictate its fall. The effects of the continuous fall of the Cedi is already being felt by the ordinary Ghanaian masses.
Ratings from Fitch and S&P also saw the Ghanaian currency rating falling further to junk this month. Following the current woes of the economy, the Central Bank held an emergency Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting yesterday. The BoG is expected to “review recent developments in the economy” during the meeting.
