Cedi weakens to record low on dollar demand for imports

Ghana’s cedi weakened to a record low after companies increased demand for dollars to bring in fuel, pharmaceuticals and other fast moving consumer goods.

The currency of the world’s second-biggest cocoa producer depreciated 0.2% to 14.9335 per dollar by the close of trading in Accra, the lowest level since at least 1994 when Bloomberg began compiling the data.

From the beginning of the year, the cedi is down 20% to the US currency, making it the fourth-worst performer among roughly 150 currencies tracked by Bloomberg worldwide, after the Egyptian Pound, Nigerian Naira and the Lebanese Pound.

Ghana’s gross international reserves have risen to $6.6 billion in April, the highest in more than 19 months, according to Bloomberg data.

The central bank has been actively managing these reserves to ensure market stability, including direct interventions to meet the foreign exchange needs of certain companies, thereby alleviating the pressure on commercial banks.