Ghana’s Currency Becomes World’s Best Performer Against US Dollar Despite Debt Crisis
A woman holds 03 July 2007 in Accra a wad new currency, the new cedi, that Ghana put in circulation that day, although the old money will still be valid until the end of the year. 
Muhammad OsmanIn October 2022, the Bank of Ghana revealed that the West African country’s public debt was 467.4 billion cedis ($37.4 billion), of which 42% was domestic debt, with interest payments consuming between 70 and 100% of government revenues. Currently, Ghana is taking measures to refinance its debt, seeking the International Monetary Fund’s help.The Ghanaian cedi has rallied, making it the world’s best performer against the US dollar this week. However, the country still faces the worst economic crisis in a generation, fomented by debt, according to US media.Over the past five days, the cedi, which lost more than 50% of its value to the US dollar this year, rose 10%, marking its most growth since October. The cedi’s exchange rate per US dollar increased from 14.10 cedis per $1 on Monday, December 3, to less than 12.9 cedis per $1 as of Friday, December 9.The cedi growth comes as the Ghanaian government is making efforts to restructure the country’s general debt, which is valued at 467.4 billion cedis ($37.4 billion), by putting forward a plan to swap about 137.3 billion Ghana cedis ($10.5 billion) in local bonds for new ones, while seeking help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to restructure external debt.Commenting on the notable growth of the Ghanaian cedi, Simon Quijano-Evans, the chief economist at Gemcorp Capital Management Ltd. in London, was cited by US media as saying that the achievement was “a combination of a somewhat more hawkish central bank, some progress on the restructuring front and a bit of buying the news.”Meanwhile, global economics expert Charles Robertson said the cedi’s good performance was “not that surprising” since the currency has lost “more than 30% undervalued versus its 25-year history last week.”A delegation from the IMF is visiting Accra to agree on a loan deal. In July, the Ghanaian government announced that it was looking at a three-year IMF program potentially worth between $2 billion and $3 billion.
