The Ghana cedi, which has lost 45.1% of its value against the US dollar this year, is now the worst-performing currency in the world.

This revelation was contained in a report by Bloomberg on October 17, 2022.

Per the report, Ghana's currency depreciated 3.3 per cent as of Monday, October 17.

The local currency is currently trading around GH¢12 to US$1 – indicating a 50% depreciation since the beginning of the year.

As a result, Ghana’s currency has dropped to the bottom, switching positions with the Sri Lankan rupee, which is now the second-worst performer with a 44.7 per cent drop to the dollar this year.

Other African currencies that have declined sharply, besides the Ghanaian cedi, include the Nigerian naira and the South African rand.

Even though the U.S. dollar continues to surge against other currencies, Pakistan's volatile rupee (PKR) became the world’s best-performing currency as of October 7. PKR made the largest gain of 3.9%

Why the Cedi fall

The cedi depreciated sharply this year as demand for forex overtook supplies at a time when high debts and low investor confidence have made it impossible for the country to access the international capital market for borrowing.

Government intervention

As part of measures to stabilise the currency, the Bank of Ghana disclosed its initiative to increase foreign currency supplies to banks in the short term to help meet growing foreign currency demands.

The central bank and some security officials also spearheaded a crackdown on the illegal market in some parts of Accra, in order to stop additional cedi depreciation.

Also, with the first tranche of the $1.3 billion Cocoa Syndicated Loan hitting BoG’saccount, it may help boost the bank's reserves.

This could help in slowing the sharp depreciation of the cedi.

Source: The Independent Ghana