Ghana’s cedi fell to a record low as businesses increased their demand for dollars to import fuel, pharmaceuticals, and other fast-moving consumer goods.
The currency of the world’s second-largest cocoa producer depreciated by 0.2% to 14.9335 per dollar by the end of trading in Accra, the lowest level since at least 1994 when Bloomberg began recording the data.
Since the start of the year, the cedi has declined by 20% against the US dollar, ranking it as the fourth-worst performer among approximately 150 currencies tracked by Bloomberg globally, following the Egyptian Pound, Nigerian Naira, and the Lebanese Pound.
Ghana’s gross international reserves increased to $6.6 billion in April, the highest in over 19 months, according to Bloomberg data.
The central bank has been actively managing these reserves to ensure market stability, including direct interventions to meet the foreign exchange needs of specific companies, thus easing the pressure on commercial banks.