Business News of Sunday, 14 July 2019

Source: yen.com.gh

Ghana Cedi records worst performance since 2015

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The Ghana cedi has recorded its worst half-year performance since 2015 following a depreciation of 8.2%.

This is according to data from the Bank of Ghana interbank exchange market released for the end of June.

The local currency continues to struggle and depreciated by 8.2% as of June 29, the data said.

This represents the worst recorded by the cedi following a 26.2% depreciation, recorded four years ago.

Earlier this year, the cedi went past the ¢5 mark to a dollar after hitting a record low in terms of depreciation.

As of March, the cedi had declined to 5.55 per dollar, which was its weakest level since Bloomberg started keeping the records in 1994.

Although the local currency began appreciating again, it has still not reached the level many expected.

This year’s performance was characterized by a very sharp depreciation in the first three months.

In that period, the Bank of Ghana struggled to meet demand for the dollar, leading to a depreciation by at least 7.9%.

During the first quarter, the Central Bank also issued a $3 billion Eurobond in a bid to boost its foreign reserves.

However, the cedi’s performance in the first half of the 2019 remains the worst, after the previous three years saw a depreciation of 3.7%, 3.6% and 2.3%.

The Ghana cedi has recorded its worst half-year performance since 2015 following a depreciation of 8.2%.