The Ghana cedi slowdown its deprecation against the dollar last week, as the local currency lost only 1.28% on the retail market.

The cedi also lost 2.60% in value to the pound, while it weakened 2.01% to the euro.

This is coming after the Bank of Ghana provided approximately $14.5 million in spot market support, while allocating $20 million to Bulk Oil Distributing Companies, but this support was insufficient to alleviate demand pressures for the greenback.

Analysts are, however, anticipating a mixed performance of the cedi against the major foreign currencies this week.

With the International Monetary Fund programme taking shape, it is expected that demand for the local currency will ease.

The cedi came under severe pressure two weeks ago losing nearly 9.0% in value in the retail market.

However, this has slowed down, keeping the year-to-date loss at a little above 12% to the American greenback. But on the interbank market, the cedi has depreciated by about 20%.

The World Bank Country Director to Ghana, Pierre Laporte, last week indicated that the Bretton Wood institution would likely disburse $300 million to Ghana in September 2023 as the first tranche of the about $1.1 billion budget deficit assistance under the International Monetary Programme.

This many market watchers and experts believe will help reduce the expected pressure on the cedi.

Ghana in December 2022 suspended payments of external loans to help restructure its debt, a move that significantly reduce foreign outflows.