Accra: The Ghana cedi depreciated by 7.9 per cent against the United States dollar on the interbank foreign exchange market during the first half of 2026, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) revealed in its latest Monetary Policy Report. The report highlighted that the local currency also declined by 6.5 per cent against the British pound and 5.3 per cent against the euro on a year-to-date basis as of June 2026.
According to Ghana News Agency, the Central Bank stated that the performance of the cedi reflected renewed pressures in the domestic foreign exchange market despite a weaker US dollar on the international market. The report outlined that the cedi depreciated by 7.9 per cent, 6.5 per cent, and 5.3 per cent against the dollar, pound, and euro, respectively, on a year-to-date basis.
The report noted that this development contrasted sharply with the corresponding period in 2025, when the cedi recorded appreciations of 42.6 per cent against the dollar, 30.3 per cent against the pound, and 25.6 per cent against the euro. It explained that while the US dollar entered July on a weaker footing globally due to expectations surrounding economic data, the response of emerging market currencies varied because of country-specific vulnerabilities.
The report indicated that the cedi experienced intense pressure in May 2026 but subsequently recovered, helping to moderate the extent of losses recorded earlier in the year. Despite the depreciation, the Bank of Ghana expressed optimism about the medium-term outlook for the local currency, citing expected support from remittance inflows and easing pressures in the foreign exchange market.
The Bank of Ghana anticipated that over the medium term, the Ghana cedi is expected to remain relatively stable as foreign exchange demand from financial intermediation moderates the pressures on the cedi, along with remittance flows. Furthermore, the Central Bank observed that despite the depreciation, the cedi exhibited lower volatility during the first 140 transaction days of 2026 compared with the same period in previous years.
On a trade-weighted basis, the cedi depreciated by 6.1 per cent in nominal trade-weighted terms and by 8.3 per cent in nominal foreign exchange transaction-weighted terms during the review period.