The Ghana cedi lost 14.47% in value to the dollar last week (October 17 to October 21, 2022), the worst weekly loss in over 30 years.

The situation was slightly worst against the pound and euro – two currencies struggling against the US dollar.

The cedi closed last week (October 21, 2022), trading at an indicative rate of ¢12.5307/US$ on the interbank market.

It also plunged 14.85% week-on-week against the pound and 15.41% to the euro.

On the retail market, the cedi traded at a mid-rate of ¢14.1500/US$ (54.13% year-to-date depreciation) at last week’s close.

Databank Research said the local currency remained under intense selling pressure on heightened speculative demand for the American ‘greenback’ with limited dollar supply by the Bank of Ghana.

It anticipated market speculation to continue to drag down the local currency this week.

In its Foreign Exchange forward Auction a week ago, the Bank of Ghana allotted $25 million against total bids of $104.75 million. The range of accepted bids was ¢11.2540 – ¢11.2800/US$ in the last auction (vs ¢10.1770 – ¢10.2000/US$ in the previous auction) across the 7-day to 60-day tenors.

This indicated intense demand pressures outstripping supply.