Trouble Looms; World Bank Drops Bad News On Ghana

The World Bank has warned that the Ghana cedi may continue to fall in value against the US dollar in 2023 if efforts are not made to reduce the country’s current account deficit to a manageable level.

The World Bank’s January 2022 Global Economic Prospects report echoed this caution.

“Large current account deficits are likely to keep currencies under pressure in several countries, increasing inflation and external vulnerabilities (Gambia, Ghana),” according to the report.

The report urged the government to take additional steps to manage its current account deficit in 2023.

It also emphasized the importance of implementing policies that will increase exports while controlling imports in order to reduce the current account deficit.

It stated that implementing these actions, along with policies aimed at controlling inflation in the coming months, will help stabilize the economy and address some of the threats to the local currency.

Cedi’s most recent performance

Following days of sustained stability, the Ghana cedi was selling at 12 to the US dollar in the retail or forex market on January 10, 2023.

This represents a 0.86% decrease in value since the beginning of the year.

The Bank of Ghana, on the other hand, quoted a dollar at 9.00 on the interbank forex market.

According to Joy Business checks at some forex bureaus at the time, the pound was the major currency that had lost the most value so far in 2023. One pound was worth $14.20.

The euro had also fallen by a little more than 1%, trading at 12.50.

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