Ghana’s currency falls by 15% against US dollar in first five months of 2012

The Ghana cedi has fallen by 15.1% against the US dollar during the first five months in 2012, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) said June 13, 2012.

The fallen percentage of the national currency is comapred to 1.9% depreciation it recorded in the same period of 2011.

“During the first five months, the cedi depreciated cumulatively by 15.1% against the US dollar, compared to 1.9% depreciation in the same period of 2011,” the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) report said.

Despite the decline of the cedi against the US dollar, the BoG has observed that the pace of currency depreciation has moderated due to measures it introduced recently to restore stability.

“In recent weeks however, the pace of depreciation of the cedi has moderated as a result of the measures introduced to restore stability,” the bank said.

The real effective exchange rate depreciated by 6.8% in January – April 2012, compared with a real appreciation of 5.9% in the same period of 2011, the BoG added.

By Ekow Quandzie