Cedi Holds Ground Against Dollar

Ghana’s cedi traded mostly unchanged against the dollar on Wednesday due to low corporate demand for greenbacks, leaving it within the tight band it has occupied since early July, dealers said.

The cedi has been trading near 1.95 to the dollar for about a month, after the Bank of Ghana (BoG) said it would intensify measures to stem the currency’s roughly 30 percent losses since January.

“Interbank market remains stuck in the 1.9530/90 band (on Wednesday) with corporate demand still low,” Kobla Nyaletey, chief trader at Barclays Bank Ghana said, adding that Wednesday’s session opened at 1.9540/75.

The cedi had been under strain earlier in the year as mining and other corporations in the country, a large gold producer and recent oil exporter, raised demand for dollar denominated imported goods.

Another trader, who requested not to be named, said the interbank market activities were quiet. The trader quoted the cedi as trading in the band of 1.9530/80.

“The market remains relatively calm and we expect the trend to continue throughout the week,” the trader said.