The Ghana cedi has crossed the dreaded ¢5 mark against the American dollar after the local currency continued to lose grounds against the dollar over the past week.

Why this challenge?

The cedi’s woes had been influenced by the sudden demand for dollars by businesses in the country to finance their imports.

The local currency which was trading at around ¢4.80 some two weeks ago has now hit the ¢4.90 range before it closed, ¢5.01.

For many, the test now is whether demand would again outwit supply for the cedi to depreciate further in the coming weeks or the Central Bank would increase supply for the local currency.

This, some belief might ease the pressure to allow the local currency to slightly appreciate and come back to the ¢4 range.

Cedis performance last year

Working with the figures put out by commercial banks the Ghana cedi might have depreciated against the dollar by more than 10 per cent as at the end of 2018.

 Ending the cedi woes  

Some financial experts have argued that unless the Bank of Ghana (BoG) increases the supply of dollars to meet the rising demand, the local currency could depreciate further in the coming weeks.