The Ghana cedi will remain stable this week against the US dollar and other major foreign currencies, although improved US labour data may pose some depreciatory pressures.

Foreign exchange (FX) flows is expected to improve due to selling pressures from the service sector and the interbank players.

This is expected to keep the year-to-date loss at about 11% to the American greenback on the retail market.

Last week, Fitch Ratings, affirmed Ghana’s Long-Term Foreign Currency (LTFC) and Long-Term Local-Currency (LTLC) Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) at ‘RD’ from the Feb-23 downgrade. However, investors did not react to the development as they had priced in the downgrade.

The local currency, however, closed last week’s trading firmer.

 It strengthened 0.3% week-on-week against the US dollar. It also gained 2.36% and 1.39% against the pound and the euro, respectively.

Presently, the cedi is going for ¢11.50 to a dollar on the retail market. It is also selling at ¢14.68 and ¢12.60 to the pound and the euro respectively.

Cedi enjoyed stability since quarter 2, 2023

The cedi has enjoyed a reassuring stability since the second quarter of 2023, owing largely to a tighter monetary stance, the commencement of the International Monetary programme, a widening trade surplus, and the ongoing suspension of external debt service.

In recent weeks, the demand management measures have been supported by improved FX supply on the domestic market, largely from energy and services sector firms.