After some sterling performance two weeks ago that made it the top-performing currency in the world during that time, pressure on the Ghanaian cedi has continued to rise.
In the retail market, the local currency last week lost almost 9% of its value relative to the US dollar, reversing the gains from the week before.
On average, it exchanged hands for 11.50 US dollars to one in the retail market and roughly 10.89 US dollars to one in the interbank market. However, in the foreign exchange offices, the cedi is selling for over $12.
In addition, it lost ground to the euro and the pound, by 4.8% and 3.1%, respectively, week over week.
The sudden decline in the cedi's gains, according to analysts, was caused by massive speculative foreign exchange purchases when the local currency grew after the International Monetary Fund's deal.
However, it is expected the forex market rates will stabilise around the current levels until the mid-year budget review, with policy propositions and the scale of monetary policy adjustments envisaged under the programme potentially shaping market sentiments.
According to Bloomberg, the cedi has depreciated by about 12% to the American greenback since January 1, 2023, whilst the year-to-date depreciation of the cedi to the dollar on the interbank market is 21.8%.