Ghana’s cedi currency has jumped by 40% against the U.S. dollar this year, indicating a better performance than neighbouring countries. far outperforming its African and emerging market peers, shrinking the cost of the country’s foreign debt and giving it more fiscal breathing room.
The surge has eased the cost of servicing foreign debt, reducing the pressure on the country’s limited revenue. Also, this is a major boost that will aid Ghana’s recovery form debt default and a major economic crisis.
“We have reduced our total debt over the last five months by almost 150 billion cedis which is very significant,” Ghanaian President John Mahama told a session during the African Development Bank annual meeting in Abidjan this week, citing the cedi strength.
“If that trajectory continues, the target of reaching 55-58% debt sustainability by 2028 will be reached by the end of this year. And that means that it begins to give us fiscal space to begin to invest in the most productive sectors of the economy,” he said.
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While the U.S. dollar has also been under pressure this year, the cedi’s performance stands in stark contrast to other African currencies.
