Cedi Seen Flat This Week

The Ghana cedi is seen flat this week as dollar inflows continued to thin out amid a week-long sale of a six billion cedi ($1.36 billion) government-sponsored energy bonds that ended on Friday, analysts said.

The cedi, which has been fairly steady in recent weeks, weakened marginally last week on renewed corporate dollar demand.

It was trading at 4.4075 to the greenback on Thursday, compared to 4.3752 last week.

“The pair (USD/GHS) appear to be in balance, but the demand for greenback is teeming and we could see a minor rise by close of week,” Joseph Biggles Amponsah, an analyst at the Accra-based Dortis Research told Reuters.

Meanwhile, the naira is expected to remain stable across its multiple exchange rates this week as the central bank continues to intervene with dollar sales on the official market to support the currency.

The local unit has been hovering at around 360 naira for investors, the same level as the parallel market.

On the official market, the naira has been quoted at around 305 per dollar for more than three months.

The central bank injected $195 million last Tuesday and sold treasury bills to keep liquidity tight. Nigerian lawmakers last Wednesday proposed a draft bill that could ease dollar shortages.