The Ghana cedi slipped one place to the 9th position out of 15th top African currencies.

According to Joy Business tracking of the performance of African currencies so far this year, the local currency has not fared badly at all.

In August, the cedi was ranked 8th among Africa’s top currencies with a depreciation of 1.30% to the US dollar. This was after it had appreciated against the American ‘greenback’ in the first six months of this year.

The Namibian dollar however dislodged the local currency from the 8th position after an improved performance against the American currency in September 2021.

But the cedi is expected to gain some value to the US dollar soon. This is because the first tranche ($750m) of the $1.5 billion Cocoa Syndication Loan will hit the account of the Bank of Ghana next week. It will help reduce the recent pressures on the local currency.

Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison said at the Monetary Policy Committee press conference that the Central Bank has been doing its best to stabilize the cedi.

“You will see that the Bank [BoG] has been fairly active in the forward market. We raised the bi-weekly intervention from $25 million every fortnight to $75 million, and we did that for I believe three consecutive weeks. This was because we thought that the market needed that particular support. And we did that without compromising our reserves and I believe that is the best way forward.”

On the continent, Zambian Kwacha maintained its lead as the best performing currency with an appreciation of 28% to the dollar.

It is followed by the Ugandan shilling and the Egyptian Pound. Both had appreciated by 3.1% and 0.14% in value respectively to the American currency.

Rankings of African 15 top currencies

COUNTRY CURRENCY YEAR-TO-DATE PERFORMANCE
Zambia Kwacha 28.3%
Uganda shilling 3.13
Egypt pound 0.14%%
Tanzania shilling -0.01%
Morocco dirham -1.06%
Kenya shilling -1.10%
Angola kwanza -1.70%
Namibia dollar -1.72%
Ghana cedi -1.78
South Africa rand -2.68