Business News of Friday, 30 January 2009

Source: GNA

Cedi recovers slightly

Accra, Jan. 30, GNA - The Ghana cedi recovered slightly against the four major trading currencies on Friday pulling down the Gold Coast Securities (GCS)-Cedi Index by 0.37 points.

The cedi after weeks of decline to the dollar, climbed up by 0.02GHp against the US currency. It also appreciated against the Euro by 2.48GHp and 0.06GHp to the CFA, but fell by 1.69GHp to the Pound. The Index, which measures the average performance of the cedi against these major trading currencies, therefore, fell at 121.40 points on Friday from 121.77 points on Thursday.

The cedi gains value when the index goes down and it loses value when the index goes up.

The year-to-date depreciation is 4.46 percent to the dollar and 2.09 percent to the Pound. But the year-to-date appreciation stands at 3.13 percent to the Euro and 3.23 percent to the CFA. The Index change for the year to date and change base year (July 03 2007) to date now stands at 2.47 per cent and 21.40 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 Friday, January 30, 2009.