- The Ghana cedi lost 1.57% against the US dollar last week
- The cedi also lost value against the pound and euro
- Ghana’s bonds dropped, showing financial worries
The Ghana cedi depreciated by 1.57% against the US dollar on the retail market last week, despite the Bank of Ghana injecting US$137.35 million. This brought the year-to-date decline to 2.66%.
This marks the second consecutive week that the cedi has weakened against the US dollar following a strong performance.
The decision to remove certain taxes has raised concerns about the government’s ability to meet its fiscal goals.
The cedi also fell by 3.45% against the pound and 5.51% against the euro. Meanwhile, the local currency opened at GH¢16.00 this week. Last week, Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson presented the 2025 budget, which included plans to remove the Electronic Transaction Levy, COVID-19 Levy, and Betting and Emission Taxes.
Following this announcement, Ghana’s US dollar-denominated bonds dropped by 1.5 cents, signaling investor concerns about the revenue outlook under the new fiscal policies.
Although the government plans to reduce spending to counterbalance the revenue loss from these tax cuts, analysts predict that fiscal challenges in the short term will likely hurt the cedi’s performance in the near future.
