Business News of Wednesday, 8 October 2008

Source: GNA

Cedi falls to dollar and Euro

Accra, Oct. 8, GNA - Ghana cedi on Wednesday continued to depreciate to the Dollar and the Euro but made slight gains to the Pound and CFA pushing up the Gold Coast Securities (GCS)-Cedi Index by 0.17 points.

The Index, the composite measure of the value of the Ghana cedi against the four major currencies, went up again at 115.03 points on Wednesday from 114.86 points on Tuesday. The year-to-date shows a deprecation of the cedi by 17.05 per cent, 8.48 per cent and 3.10 percent to the Dollar, the Euro and the Pound respectively, but indicates 7.81 per cent appreciation against. The cedi gains value when the index goes down and it loses value when the index goes up.

On a whole, the cedi fell by 0.24 GH pesewas to the Dollar and 0.50 GH pesewas to the Euro. It however appreciated by 0.03 GH pesewas to the Pound and 0.01 GH pesewas to the CFA.

Change for the year to date and change base year (July 03 2007) to date now stands at 10.76 per cent and 15.03 per cent respectively. The Index is calculated as a geometric weighted average of changes in the four currency rates against the cedi at the Inter-bank market, relative to a base of 100 set on 03 July 2007, when the Bank of Ghana redenominated the national currency at a base value of 100. It is inversely proportional. A quote of 105.50 means the cedi value has depreciated by 5.50 per cent since the base period, while a quote of 85.3 means the cedi has gained by 14.77 per cent since its base year. The following are the exchange rates for the four currencies on Wednesday, October 8, 2008.

Currency Buying Selling Depreciation (-)/Appreciation (+) (GH¢) (GH¢) (Gp)

Dollar 1.1144 1.1498 - 0.24

Pound 1.9456 2.0080 + 0.03

Euro 1.5136 1.5614 - 0.50

Equivalence of currency to one GH¢

CFA 420.11 433.38 + 0.01