According to Bloomberg, the Ghana Cedi is currently in tatters, haven depreciated by over GHC2 in the last week, compounding the ever-depreciating currency against major foreign currencies.
“The Cedi fell 1.6% on Tuesday, August 16, extending this year’s slump to 35% and making it the world’s worst performer among 150 currencies tracked, after bankrupt Sri Lanka’s rupee,” Bloomberg indicated.
Bloomberg tracked the performance of 150 currencies in the world and the Cedi placed last in terms of performance since the beginning of the year.
In less than 8 months, the Cedi has come under intense exchange rate pressure due to its continuous depreciation to some major international currencies such as the Dollar, Pound and Euro.
According to data put out by the Bank of Ghana, the Cedi began the year at $1.00 to GH¢6.02.
Just a month ago, one could exchange $1.00 for GH¢7.43, and in less than 20 days, traders needed an average of GH¢9.37 to buy $1.00.
This means the Cedi has lost most than GH¢3.30 of its value to the dollar in less done 8 months.
Ghana’s economy is struggling to survive as inflation continues to dictate its fall. The implications of the continuous fall of the Cedi is already being felt by the ordinary Ghanaian.
Ratings from Fitch and S&P also saw the Cedi rating falling further to junk this month.
Following the current woes of the economy, the Central Bank is holding an emergency Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting today. The BoG is expected to “review recent developments in the economy” during the meeting.