Economist projects cedi stability throughout 2021

An economist at Databank, Courage Martey has projected that Ghana’s local currency, the cedi is expected to remain stable against major trading currencies throughout 2021.

Martey said he believed the stability of the local currency is as a result of measures set in place by the Bank of Ghana to prevent a cedi depreciation.

The local currency has so far started off the year trading at GH¢5.76 pesewas against the US dollar and has since remained the same.

“First of all, it is based on the performance we saw last year and typically this financial asset turns to move along with the sentiment of the market. Given the performance that we saw last year, which was very impressive, the expectation and the credibility of the monetary policy framework to continue to anchor policy stability was already gained,” Martey explained at a Pension Strategy conference held in Accra.

“When we started this year, the Bank of Ghana also published the forex forward issuance calendar. They indicated that for the first quarter of this year the FX forward auctions will be allotting US$50 million per by weekly auction and after the first quarter they will revert to US$25 million allotment per by weekly auction,” he pointed.

The Databank economist added, “Now, one thing to note is that, this allotment is higher than what will be happening after Q1 and it’s a recognition of the Bank of Ghana’s commitment to currency stability in a typically difficult period for the Ghana cedi.”