Business News of Monday, 13 October 2008

Source: GNA

Cedi reverses good performance

Accra, Oct. 13, GNA - Ghana cedi on Monday fell to the major currencies to reverse its impressive performance last week against the pound and euro especially pushing up the GCS-Cedi Index by 0.54 points. The cedi which, however, gained slightly against the CFA, recorded a 0% year to date depreciation against the pound last Friday after a twelve-day continuous rise to the UK currency.

The index, which measures the average performance of the cedi against the major trading currencies, on Monday, therefore, went up at 115.12 points from 114.59 points last Friday. The year-to-date shows a deprecation of the cedi by 17.57 per cent, 9.31 per cent and 1.64 per cent to the Dollar, the Euro and the Pound respectively, but indicates 8.51 per cent appreciation against the CFA.

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

On a whole, the cedi remained depreciated 0.35 GH cedis to the dollar, 3.14 GH pesewas to the Pound and 0.31 GH pesewas to the Euro. It, however, appreciated 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 10.85 per cent and 15.12 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 Monday, October 13, 2008.

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

Dollar 1.1195 1.1547 - 0.35

Pound 1.9185 1.9792 - 3.14

Euro 1.5255 1.5731 - 0.31

Equivalence of currency to one GH¢ CFA 416.99 430.00 + 0.01 13 Oct. 08