Demand pressures intensify as the cedi continued to fall against the US dollar on the interbank and retail market last week amid the persistent forex demand-supply gap.

It posted a mixed performance on the Bank of Ghana reference market, losing 0.40% week-on-week against the American greenback, but gained 1.24% week-on-week against the pound and 0.07% week-on-week vs the euro.

The story was however different in the retail market, where the cedi slid against its major trading pairs, depreciating 1.56% week-on-week against the US dollar to deepen its year-to-date loss to 35.52%.

It also lost 2.75% week-on-week to the pound and 2.77% week-on-week against the euro.

Presently, the local currency is going for ¢10.30 to the dollar in the retail market.

Databank Research said “while FX supply may see a boost from the $1.3 billion cocoa syndicated loan, we expect the heightened inflation and impending US Fed hike to weigh negatively on the sentiments around the cedi in the near term”.

Meanwhile, in the Foreign Exchange Forward auction for the Bulk Oil Distribution Companies last week, the Bank of Ghana received and accepted bids worth $60 million, an increment of $10 million from the previous auction.

Submitted bids were within the 9.7000 – 9.9500 range, with the allotment done at a 30-day forward rate of 9.8409 (+¢0.08 of the previous auction).