On Tuesday, December 20, the Ghana Cedi rose to number 14 from position 15 on Hanke’s Currency Watchlist.
According to calculations made by Johns Hopkins Professor Steve Hanke, the Cedi has lost 31.17% of its value against the US dollar since January 2022, which is why Ghana is ranked 14th on this week’s Hanke’s Currency Watchlist. Ghana’s economy has entered a death spiral as a result of President Akufo-Addo.
By my calculations, the Ghanaian #cedi has depreciated 31.17% against the USD since Jan. 2022, which is why #Ghana is in 14th place in this week's Hanke’s #CurrencyWatchlist. Thanks to Pres. Akufo-Addo, Ghana is in an economic death spiral. pic.twitter.com/3ZCuqVeQfI
— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) December 20, 2022
He previously placed Cedi15th among a list of nineteen performing currencies.
“By my calculations, the Ghanaian Cedi has depreciated 34.17% against the USD since Jan. 2020, which is why Ghana is in 15th place in this week’s Hanke’s #Currency Watchlist,” one of his earlier tweets said.
“To save the cedi,” he said, “Ghana must mothball its central bank and install a #CurrencyBoard.”
The Cedi has been gaining strength against the major trading currencies particularly, the Dollar starting December 2022.
Per the Bank of Ghana (BoG) rate, the Cedi, as of Monday December 19, was buying at GHS7.9970 to a Dollar and and selling at GHS8.0050 to a Dollar.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo indicated that the Cedi’s appreciation against the US Dollar is as a result of the measures taken by his government in partnership with the central bank, the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
Mr Akufo-Addo said the appreciation did not happen by chance.
Speaking at the centenary celebration of the Ga presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana in Accra on Sunday December 18, he said “At the height of our challenges there were some who doubted the capabilities of my government and I to return our nation back onto the path of progress and and prosperity and lift us out of our current problems. In those dark moments, my fellow Ghanaians and and congregation, I could only recount the words of the St Matthew chapter 19 vrs 26 which states ‘But Jesus looked at them and said to them, with men this is impossible but with God all things are possible.”
- Analyst: Lack of market confidence is causing the Cedi to fall.
- Cedi depreciation clear reflection of weak structures, non-competitive trade sector – GCB Bank MD
He added “With the appropriate policy, determination and hard work on our part things are beginning to turn around. What seemed impossible yesterday is now becoming possible. We are definitely not yet out of the woods. However, today, the Cedi is rapidly appreciating against the US Dollar and all major currencies, making up for its losses and the prices of petroleum products are reducing at the pump.
“The strengthening of the Cedi has not happened by chance but through the implementation of deliberate policies by government in collaboration with the Bank of Ghana. These include Cedi liquidity tightening measures resulting in the offloading of forex as stalled value by speculators, the improvement of forex inflows from remittances and the mining sector and the reaching of the staff level agreement with the IMF for a 3 billion US Dollar package. All these have combined to bring the Cedi to this position and I can assure you that government will continue to work hard to maintain and sustain the gains made.
“Indeed, in the weeks ahead, the BoG will continue with the purchases of forex from the mining and oil sectors to enhance liquidity supply to the markets, continue with single unified forex forward auction and some modest targeted bilateral support to critical import.”
