Bad News Hits Ghana

The World Bank has said that the Ghana cedi could continue to lose value against the U.S. dollar in 2023 if the country's current account deficit is not brought down to a sustainable level.

The World Bank's January 2022 report on the Global Economic Prospects showed the caution.

"Large current account deficits are likely to keep currencies under pressure in several countries, adding to inflation and external vulnerabilities (Gambia, Ghana)," said the report.

The report urged the government to take more steps in 2023 to deal with the current account deficit.

It also said that policies need to be put in place to boost exports and control imports in order to reduce the current account deficit.

It said that taking these steps and putting in place policies to stop inflation in the coming months would help stabilize the economy and deal with some of the threats that would hurt the local currency.

Cedi recent performance

The Ghana cedi was worth 12 to the US dollar on the retail or forex market on January 10, 2023. This was after several days of stability.

This was a loss of about 0.86 percent since the start of the year.

On the interbank forex market, however, the Bank of Ghana said that a dollar was worth 9.00.

The pound was the major currency that had lost the most value so far in 2023, according to checks by Joy Business at some forex bureaus at the time. It cost 14.20 for one pound.

The euro had lost about 1% of its value and was now worth 12.50.