Did the cedi rate hit 17 Ghana Cedis under the NPP? Yes and No
Mohammed Awal, a member of the NPP National Communications Team was on Joy Prime Tv’s morning show where he argued that the US Dollar never hit 17 cedis under the NPP government.
He said this in response to the host’s comment that the dollar reached 17 cedis during the Nana Akuffo Addo administration. In his response, “it never got to 17 cedis’’.
Fakenews Ghana has verified the information and presents the facts below:
Claim: Under the NPP, the dollar never hit 17 cedis
Verdict: Misleading
Explanation
To determine whether the dollar really got to 17 cedis under the NPP government, it is important to know the source of data that both the host of the show and the NPP communicator are using. This is important because both may be using different sources of data to advance their argument.
Awal Mohammed advanced his claim that the dollar never hit 17 cedis by using Bank of Ghana’s Interbank Dollar Rate and Google’s Mid-Market Rate. These rates are typically used as a benchmark for currency trading between banks and large financial institutions. Banks actively engage in large volume trades with each other to manage liquidity, hedge risks and facilitate international transactions through electronic platforms such as EBS and Refinitiv. Because of these activities, Banks typically have a benchmark rate at which they trade the dollar with each other.
Going by this, Awal Mohammed’s claim that the Dollar never hit 17 cedis is true. This is because the highest dollar rate, as of November 6, 2024 according to the Bank of Ghana’s interbank rate is 16.4118 .
On the other hand, the host’s claim that the dollar hit 17 cedis is also true. While the Bank of Ghana gives daily updates for interbank Dollar rates, they do not determine how much the dollar is sold in the retail and black market. These prices are usually higher than how much banks trade between themselves or sell to the public. For example, while the interbank rate as of October 4, 2024 was 15.7821 and 15.7979, online card payments crossed 17 cedis as reported by Modern Ghana.
In addition, it is important to note that as of November 4, 2024, the cedi was selling at 17.15 cedis in many Forex Bureaus and in the black market as reported by GhanaWeb.
MyJoyOnline also reported that the cedi was being sold at 17 cedis in the retail market. Excerpts of the article read “The local unit gained 0.2% to sell at GH¢16.33 to one American greenback on the interbank market. It is, however, going for GH¢17.00 to the dollar on the retail market”.
These reports; Cedi weakens against dollar, now GH¢17.00 to $1 as of November 1, and Cedi declines by nearly 29% year-to-date, dollar selling around GH¢17.25 , also provide evidence to support the fact that the cedi hit 17 cedis under the NPP government.
