- Cedi Extends 2026 Losses, Down 9.50% Against Dollar as September Pressure Returns
The Ghanaian cedi has weakened further against the world’s major currencies in September, extending its year-to-date depreciation against the US dollar to 9.50% after some recovery in August.
Bank of Ghana data show the currency trading at GH¢11.55 to the dollar as of September 18, compared with GH¢11.25 at the end of August and GH¢10.45 at the end of December 2025.
The latest movement suggests renewed foreign-exchange pressure after the cedi temporarily strengthened between July and August.
Against the dollar, the cedi had depreciated by 10.60% year-to-date in July before improving to a 7.10% depreciation in August.
That recovery has partly unwound in September, with the official year-to-date loss widening again to 9.50% as the exchange rate moved from GH¢11.25 to GH¢11.55. On the quoted exchange rate, that represents a roughly 2.67% increase in the dollar’s cedi price between August and September.
The same pattern is visible against sterling. The cedi traded at GH¢15.4464 to the pound in September, compared with GH¢15.2432 in August, representing a roughly 1.33% rise in the cedi cost of sterling during the period.
On the Bank of Ghana’s year-to-date measure, the cedi had depreciated 9.00% against the pound, worsening from a 7.80% loss at the end of August.
Against the euro, the cedi weakened from GH¢13.0681 in August to GH¢13.2445 in September, an increase of approximately 1.35% in the local-currency price of the European currency.
The year-to-date depreciation against the euro consequently widened from 6.10% in August to 7.30% in September. Among the three major currencies tracked by the Bank, the dollar therefore remains the currency against which the cedi has recorded its largest year-to-date loss.
The September weakness follows an uneven performance throughout 2026. The cedi began January at GH¢10.95 to the dollar and strengthened to GH¢10.6865 in February before weakening to GH¢10.9980 in March and GH¢11.19 in April.
It deteriorated further to GH¢11.73 in May, recovered to GH¢11.35 in June, slipped again to GH¢11.69 in July and strengthened sharply to GH¢11.25 in August before the latest retreat.
That volatility contrasts sharply with the currency’s performance during parts of 2025. The Bank of Ghana series shows the cedi ending December 2025 with a 40.70% year-to-date appreciation against the dollar, 30.90% against sterling and 24.00% against the euro under the central bank’s methodology.
The 2026 numbers therefore mark a reversal from the unusually strong appreciation recorded in the previous year, although the current exchange rate remains below some of the weaker levels observed during 2025.
Global currency conditions have also become less supportive. The US Dollar Index rose to 100.3 in September from 99.4 in August, with the Bank of Ghana noting that an increase in the index signals a strengthening US currency against a basket of six major global currencies.
A stronger dollar can place additional pressure on emerging-market currencies by increasing demand for dollar assets and raising the local-currency cost of dollar-denominated imports and obligations.
The broader emerging-market currency index also weakened marginally, declining from 46.4 in August to 46.2 in September.
The Bank explains that a fall in the index represents weakening emerging-market currencies against the US dollar, indicating that the cedi’s September pressure is occurring alongside a less favourable external environment for developing-market currencies generally.
That does not establish that global dollar strength alone caused Ghana’s depreciation, but it provides important context for the movement.
Sterling and the euro themselves have moved differently against the dollar. The pound traded at US$1.3384 in September, while the euro stood at US$1.1476, with the Bank’s year-to-date calculations showing sterling up 0.70% and the euro up 2.40% against the dollar.
The cedi’s losses against all three currencies therefore point to domestic-currency weakness rather than merely a mechanical consequence of movements between the major international currencies.
Another gauge of the currency’s position is the Real Effective Exchange Rate, which measures the cedi against a weighted basket of 18 trading-partner currencies after adjusting for inflation.
The index rose from 96.4 in July to 98.5 in August, with the Bank noting that an increase represents a real depreciation and a decline represents appreciation. September data for the real effective rate were not yet available in the published summary.
The renewed pressure matters because movements in the exchange rate can feed into the domestic economy through fuel, machinery, pharmaceuticals, raw materials and other imports priced in foreign currencies.
Businesses with dollar obligations can also face higher cedi costs when the currency weakens, while the government’s external debt becomes more expensive when translated into domestic currency.
The precise inflationary and fiscal effects, however, depend on the duration and scale of the depreciation rather than a single month’s movement.
The foreign-exchange picture is therefore one of partial recovery followed by renewed weakness rather than an uninterrupted decline. August delivered a noticeable improvement against the dollar, pound and euro, but the September figures show some of those gains being surrendered as the US currency strengthened globally.
The cedi nevertheless remains some distance from its weakest points in the Bank’s recent series, including the GH¢12.42 per dollar recorded in September 2025.
For the remainder of 2026, the critical issue will be whether the September reversal develops into sustained depreciation or remains a temporary adjustment after August’s strengthening.
As of September 18, the official numbers show the cedi down 9.50% against the dollar, 9.00% against sterling and 7.30% against the euro since the start of the year. That puts exchange-rate stability back among the most important variables to watch as Ghana enters the final quarter of 2026.
