Bloomberg pegs depreciation of cedi at 8.86%
Bloomberg has pegged the depreciation of the cedi to the dollar from January 1 to February 25, 2022 at 8.86%.
Bloomberg, in view of the cedi’s depreciation has classified the cedi as the African currency with the worst spot returns.
Ghana has been battling with its rising debt and fiscal deficits which have created fears among investors regarding the country’s economic outlook.
Despite the country’s economic woes, Ghana is adamant to returning to the IMF for a programme to build investor confidence.
Other African currencies with worse spot returns according to Bloomberg include the Zambian kwacha and Liberian dollar with depreciation rates of -6.02% and -5.50% respectively.
The Angola Kwanza and South Africa Rand are however among African currencies with the best spot returns given their appreciation rates of 12.26% and 5.15% respectively.
CURRENCIES WITH “WORST SPOT RETURNS”
| RANKING | CURRENCY | YEAR-TO-DATE |
| 16th | Gambian dalasi | -1.03% |
| 17th | New Sudanese pound | -1.88% |
| 18th | Ethiopian Birr | -2.97% |
| 19th | Sierra Leone leone | -3.52% |
| 20th | Mauritian rupee | -4.76% |
| 21st | Liberian dollar | -5.50% |
| 22nd | Zambian kwacha | -6.02% |
| 23rd | Ghana cedi | -8.86% |
CURRENCIES WITH “BEST SPOT RETURNS”
| RANKING | CURRENCY | YEAR-TO-DATE |
| 1st | Angolan kwanza | 12.26% |
| 2nd | South African rand | 5.15% |
| 3rd | Guinean franc | 3.79% |
| 4th | Nigerian naira | 2.16% |
| 5th | Botswana pula | 1.65% |
| 6th | Malawian kwacha | 1.01% |
| 7th | Rwanda franc | 0.97% |
| 8th | Uganda shilling | 0.32% |
Read: Ghana: World Bank disagrees with Fitch Solutions’ 2.9% current account deficit
Cedi tops Africa’s worst performing currencies
The Ghana cedi is currently the worst performing African currency given its 15th position on the Bloomberg league of 15 top African currencies.
The cedi dropped from its previous 14th position to its current position after recording depreciation rate of about 8.86% to the dollar just two months into 2022 – from January 1, 2022 to February 25, 2022.
Bloomberg, in its tracking of the league of African currencies, has classified the cedi among currencies with the worst spot returns.
The local currency was overtaken the Zambian kwacha, which was the worst-performing currency on the continent two weeks ago.
Both Ghana and Zambia have challenges in addressing their escalating debts as well as struggling with revenue mobilisation and expenditure management.
This is thus having a negative impact on the country’s exchange rate, interest rate and inflation. Additionally, the recent downgrade of the country’s ability to borrow is also a major worry as investors are still unsure about the outlook of the Ghanaian economy.
