Cedi records 8.3% depreciation against major currencies in 2024 – Finance Minister

The Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, has stated that the Ghanaian cedi has stabilised strongly against major trading currencies since January 2024 to date due to prudent measures by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Finance Ministry.

He said the cedi depreciated by 8.3 percent within the first three and a half months of the year. The current rate shows a decline from 21.5 percent, which was recorded within the same period in 2023.

“The cedi has also stabilised strongly against major currencies. In fact, year-to-date 2024, the cedi depreciated by just 8.3 percent. This compared with 21.5 percent same time in 2023.

“This tells you that our cedi continues to be stronger,” said Dr. Amin Adam while addressing the press at the end of the IMF Spring meeting in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, April 21.

He attributed the low depreciation of the cedi to strong monetary policies by the BoG, the building of Ghana’s International reserves, and fiscal control measures by the Finance Ministry.

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“This is not surprising, it is as a result of the strong monetary policies of the Bank of Ghana and also the building of our gross international reserves, as well as the interventions by the Ministry of Finance on the expenditure side, which saw expenditure controlled,” he said.

He emphasised that these measures have seen the country’s fiscal situation show positive signs of recovery, indicating that the “primary deficit by the end of 2022 was 4.3 percent of GDP (gross domestic product),” which was reduced to 0.3 percent of GDP at the end of December 2023.

Dr. Amin Adam further noted that the government is expecting to end this year with a surplus of 0.5 percent of GDP and a 1.5 percent surplus in 2025.

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The Finance Minister expressed confidence in the Ghanaian economy, stressing the country is “heading very quickly to stabilisation” and thus these gains must be improved.

Meanwhile, Dr. Amin Adam disclosed that there are improvements in the public debt, which is about GHC610 billion ($52.4 billion) as of December 2023, according to the BoG.

“Public debt trajectory has been improving because debt-to-GDP reduced to 71.4 percent of GDP by the end of 2023 from 73.5 percent of GDP as we saw it by the end of 2022,” he told reporters at the World Bank head office in Washington, D.C.