The cedi remained under pressure over the two-week review period, driven largely by heightened demand pressures.
In the interbank market, the cost of obtaining a dollar edged up to GH¢11.85 from GH¢11.63, while the prices for a pound and a euro increased to GH¢15.85 and GH¢13.66 from GH¢15.62 and GH¢13.49, respectively.
These losses were reflected in the retail market, where the cedi lost 0.81%, 1.83%, and 1.40% of its value, closing at mid-rates of GH¢12.30 to a US dollar, GH¢16.35 against the pound and GH¢14.30 to the euro, respectively.
On a month-on-month basis, the cedi depreciated by an average of 4.18% from April 2026 to May 2026, a 0.95 percentage point increase from the 3.23% recorded by the end of April 2026. This comes despite approximately US$1.1 billion in forex intervention for May 2026.
“Tracking close to our expectations, bearish sentiment amid moderate FX supply conditions underpinned the cedi’s upward adjustment against the three major currencies. Compounding this effect is the increasing demand for US dollars as central banks continue to liquidate non-dollar assets to meet higher import costs, driven by persistently elevated refined crude oil prices”, said Databank Research.
In the coming weeks, it expects speculation to remain relatively anchored, supported by the announced US$1.2 billion monthly forex support for June 2026.
“However, we foresee the USD/Ghana cedi pair weakening further beyond GH¢11.85 in the interbank market, as corporate demand typically peaks during the Q2 [quarter 2] repatriation window, driven by multinational dividend and profit outflows”, it added.
Meanwhile, the cedi started this week going for GH¢12.40 to one dollar at the forex bureaus. It has depreciated by about 1.05% to the American greenback.
Source: adomonline.com
