Cedi Recovers Lost Value Against Major Currencies, but Volatility Continues

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The cedi recouped some lost value against the US dollar and other major trading currencies last week.

At the close of trading in the week ending March 4, the local currency continued the run of volatility with the GH¢12.5 to GH¢13.20 band.

The investment bank, GCB Capital, said in its weekly review that its indicative retail rate showed that the cedi recovered 1.5 percent week-on-week versus the US dollar on the retail market at the close of trading last week.

It said it was even more resilient against the British pound and the euro, having gained 2.3 percent and 1.8 percent week-on-week (w/w) respectively.

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“The local unit was broadly stable against the US dollar on the interbank reference market but ceded 0.15 percent and 0.43 percent to the GBP and the Euro, respectively.

It said with the temporal external debt service suspension still in place, coupon payments on three Eurobond tenors falling due in March 2023 will not be honored, providing a temporal respite for the stock of foreign exchange (FX) reserves.

“However, we expect the cedi’s volatile run to continue, with speculative FX demand, dividend repatriations and corporate FX demand exerting depreciation pressures.

The local currency came under intense pressure last year, losing about 60 per cent of its value to the US dollar as of August 2022 before steadying to 30.1 per cent for the full year.

The steep decline led to historical price hikes, with inflation peaking at 54.1 per cent in December.

Although inflation fell to 53.6 per cent in January, the currency market has been volatile this year.

The cedi lost about 22.13 per cent to he US dollar in he first two months before rebounding this month.

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