The woes of the Ghana cedi continued this morning as the local currency depreciated further to sell at ¢15.20 to one US dollar.

This is about 3.4% depreciation in less than a day, after trading this morning, October 24, 2022, at ¢14.70.

Indeed, some analysts and economists had projected a ¢15 to one US dollar by the end of 2022.

It appears the depreciation pressures are unending, as demand for the US dollars far outstrips supply. On the Forex Forward Auction Market, the Bank of Ghana has since the beginning of the year been supply $25 million every fortnight, though demand exceeds over $100 million.

Checks by Joy Business at some leading forex bureaus across the capital city Accra indicate that the cedi is hovering around ¢15.20.

However, the rate of deprecation against the pound and the euro have slowdown considerably. A pound and euro are going for ¢16 and ¢14 respectively.

Global leader in financial services and US firm, JP Morgan, had said in its recent report on Ghana that the Bank of Ghana’s decision to purchase dollars from mining and oil companies, inadvertently reducing forex availability within the inter-bank market is one of the reasons behind the falling value of the cedi.

It also pointed out that the loss of confidence domestically has resulted in a significant drain from the financial account, even though portfolio outflows have been relatively limited.

The cedi depreciated by more than 20% in nominal term the whole of last week.

In terms of the year-to-date depreciation, it is hovering around over 50% to the American ‘greenback’.