Even though it occasionally became highly volatile, the cedi over time was competitive with other major trading currencies, especially the US dollar.
The cedi was trading at a rate of GH5.9 to the US dollar at the start of January 2022, according to information from the Bank of Ghana.
The cedi, however, exceeded the GH8 threshold on March 15, 2022, and is now trading at GH8.12 pesewas.
GH 8.33 pesewas were likewise being paid to sell and GH 8.53 pesewas to buy the Euro.
Shortly after the aforementioned rate, the cedi dropped to GH6.02 at the interbank level, depreciating by almost 12%.
Cedi hits GH¢10 mark in September
In September, the government tried putting in some measures to stabilize the free fall of the local currency, as it was selling at GH¢10 to $1.
In the same month, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta disclosed that the cedi had lost its value by 31.7 percent to the US dollar.
Cedi reaches GH¢11 mark in October
The cedi took a climb to GH¢11 to $1 in October. This came as a shock to many as Ghanaians were expecting an appreciation from the local currency against the trading currencies.
As part of measures to avert the depreciation of the cedi, the government run to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial bailout.
The IMF bailout would help rescue the cedi, as well as, stabilize the economy that has taken a nose dive.
While Ghana awaits the money from IMF, international credit rating agencies; Moody’s, Fitch, Standard and Poors’, remarked that Ghana’s economy looked gloomy.
This led to a hike in the monetary policy rate by the Bank of Ghana to 24. 5%. The hike in the policy rate was to stem the soaring inflation which has subsequently led to an increase in goods and services.
Cedi depreciates further, highest decline in 22 years – Report
Bloomberg has on Thursday, October 20, 2022, reported that Ghana’s local currency – the cedi – has diminished in value by 9.6%.
This, the news portal said, makes the total loss of the cedi in 2022 almost 52%, the highest recorded in 22 years.
The free fall of the cedi now places the currency at the 148 position of worst performing currencies in the world.
Cedi appreciates
The Ghana cedi regained more than 61 per cent of its value against some of the country’s major foreign trading currencies in recent times.
The currency had lost up to 54 per cent of its value at the end of November, making it one of the worst performing currencies in the world.
Meanwhile, Government of Ghana is targeting an amount of $3 billion over a three-year period from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) once an agreement on a programme is reached.
The new amount requested as a loan is double the government’s initial target of $1.5 billion.
The IMF programme is aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability and safeguarding debt sustainability among many others.
UK based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has however predicted doom for the cedi.
It said the cedi will depreciate about 22% against the dollar in 2023.
This, EIU said will rank the local currency as the third weakest performing currency on the African continent.