Ghana’s currency, the cedi, depreciated for the third straight day against the U.S. dollar, as pre-seasonal imports boosted demand for the greenback, according to Access Bank Plc.

The cedi traded 0.2 percent weaker at 1.452 to the dollar by 1:30 p.m. local time, according to Bloomberg data.

“Demand for the dollar is really hammering the market right now,” Kwabena Owusu, a currency trader at Access in Accra, said in a phone interview today. Prices for imported oil, rice and manufactured goods are rising before the holiday shopping season, he said.

Ghana’s central bank attempted to keep the currency below 1.4500 to the dollar by selling about $25 million on Nov. 24 at 1.4356, Owusu said. Another sale is likely on Dec. 1, he added.

Stephen Opata, a risk manager in the Bank of Ghana’s foreign treasury department, declined to comment when reached by phone today in Accra.