Cedi fell to Dollar/Euro but…

The Ghana cedi slight depreciations to the Dollar and the Euro on Wednesday was enough to push up the Gold Coast Securities (GCS)-Cedi Index by 0.04 points.

It, however, appreciated to the UK Pound and the CFA. But the Index, which measures the average performance of the cedi against its major trading currencies, went up at 119.54 points from 119.50 points on Tuesday.

The cedi gains value when the index goes down and it loses value when the index goes up.

The year-to-date depreciation stands at 1.71 percent for the Dollar, 2.12 per cent to the Pound and 2.46 per cent to the CFA. It however recorded year-to-year appreciation of 2.41 per cent against the Euro.

On a whole, the cedi fell by 0.13GHp to the Dollar and 0.66GHp to the Euro. Its appreciation against the Pound was 0.75GHp and 0.02GHp against the CFA.

The Index change for the year to date and change base year (July 03 2007) to date now stands at 0.30 per cent and 18.12 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 Wednesday, January 13, 2009.

Currency Buying Selling Depreciation (-)/Appreciation (+)
(GH¢)         (GH¢)         (Gp)

Dollar      1.2150       1.2547        – 0.13
Pound       1.7778       1.8361        + 0.75
Euro        1.6200       1.6724        – 0.66

Equivalence of currency to one GH¢
CFA         392.22       404.91        + 0.02

Source: GNA