Ghana’s cedi overtakes rupee to become world’s worst-performing currency against US dollar, by Stanley Ugagbe 

Fresh report has revealed that the Ghanaian currency, cedi has become the worst performing currency in the world after it lost 45.1 percent of its value to the US dollar this year.

In the report, Bloomberg stated that the currency of the world’s second-biggest cocoa producer depreciated 3.3 percent on Monday to 11.2750 per dollar.

The financial, software, data, and Media Company stated that the cedi’s poor performance against the dollar was the worst among 148 currencies tracked by it.

In view of this development, the cedi has switched positions with the Sri Lankan rupee, which is now the second worst performer with a 44.7 percent drop to the greenback this year.

It could be recalled that in July, Ghana under the leadership of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo started engaging with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout programme to restore macro-economic stability.

Reports have it that the economic woes and spiraling inflation in the West African country had forced hundreds of citizens to take to the streets to demonstrate against price hikes, a tax on electronic payments, and other levies.

In its report, Bloomberg said Ghana is hoping to receive up to $3 billion in loans for over three years under the IMF arrangement to spur its finances and support the balance of payments.

It is important to note that apart from the Ghanaian cedi, other African currencies that have depreciated rapidly against the greenback in recent months include Nigeria’s naira and South Africa’s rand