Cedi depreciates 24.6% since January

Accra, Dec. 22, GNA - The year-to-date Ghana cedi depreciation to the dollar now stands at 24.57 per cent, the Gold Coast Securities (GCS)-Cedi Index has shown.

This means that the cedi since January 2008 had weakened to the dollar by that percentage. It recorded 0.48 Ghana pesewas (GHp) depreciation to the dollar on Monday.

But the cedi's performance to the UK Pound had been impressive. Since January this year it had recorded a 19.72 percent year-to-date appreciation against the pound. Reasons cited for performance against the pound by the GCS Research Team to the Ghana News Agency include tightening of the immigration policy in UK, the upward review of the prime rate and the 2008 elections.

The year-to-date depreciation to the Euro and the CFA stands at 6.04 per cent and 16.46 per cent respectively.

The GCS-Cedi Index, which measures the average performance of the cedi against its major trading currencies, on Monday, lost 0.11 points to move up at 118.41 points from 118.30 points last Friday. The cedi gains value when the index goes down and it loses value when the index goes up.

On a whole, the cedi fell on Monday to the dollar and CFA by 0.48GHp and 0.03GHp respectively while it appreciated to the pound and the euro by 0.26 GHp and 1.24GHp respectively.

Change for the year to date and change base year (July 03 2007) to date now stands at 14.01 per cent and 18.41 per cent respectively. The Index is calculated as a geometric weighted average of changes in the four currency rates against the cedi at the Inter-bank market, relative to a base of 100 set on 03 July 2007, when the Bank of Ghana redenominated the national currency at a base value of 100. It is inversely proportional. A quote of 105.50 means the cedi value has depreciated by 5.50 per cent since the base period, while a quote of 85.3 means the cedi has gained by 14.77 per cent since its base year.

The following are the exchange rates for the four currencies on Monday, December 22, 2008.

Currency Buying Selling Depreciation (-)/Appreciation (+)

(GH¢) (GH¢) (Gp)

Dollar 1.1861 1.2235 - 0.48

Pound 1.1734 1.8300 + 0.26

Euro 1.6704 1.7233 + 1.24