As the festive season approaches, the Ghana Association of Forex Bureaux foresees a slight weakening of the cedi against the US dollar.

While the local currency remained relatively stable for most of the year, recent times have seen some pressure on the cedi.

Despite Fitch Solutions' projection of the cedi ending 2023 at GHS11.40 to a dollar, the Ghana Association of Forex Bureau anticipates increased demand for the dollar, along with higher imports, which could lead to a devaluation of the local currency against the dollar.

"Yes, you must know that during the festive season, there will be a lot of demand for foreign currency especially the US dollar because most of our imports are dollar-denominated. And so you would expect that the dollar and for the matter the rate of the dollar compared to the cedi will depreciate," Vice President of the association, Dr. Alex Akpabli, said.

"The depreciation would be small I can tell you", he added.

"We just need to find ways to deal with the high importation of goods in the country. The Ghana cedi is doing well and we can do better if we work around all indicators”, he mentioned.

Fitch Solutions projects a potential 1.0% strengthening of the cedi against the US dollar in 2024, positioning it among the top-performing currencies in Africa during that period.

The UK-based firm anticipates progress from the government in restructuring Ghana’s external debt under the G20 Common Framework by the second quarter of 2024. This step, according to their analysis, is expected to enhance investor confidence in Ghanaian assets, attract capital inflows, and offer bolstering support to the cedi.