Market News
Why Ghana Cedi is Africa’s best performing currency in 2025
In 2025, Ghana Cedis has appreciated by about 43 percent against the US Dollar to rank as the best-performing currency in Africa. It is just behind the Russian Ruble which has gained about 45 percent against the Dollar in 2025.
Starting the year with an exchange rate of 14.7 GHS to 1 USD, the currency further declined to 15.5 GHS/$1 at the end of Q1. However, it has been on a bullish run for most of May heading into June 2025.
What are the driving factors behind the performance of the Ghana Cedi in 2025?
The Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference (GITFiC) in its 2025 USD/GHS exchange rate projection report identified four factors driving the performance of the currency.
The report identified debt restructuring success, firming commodity prices, reduced speculative activity in the forex market, and central bank liquidity interventions as the performance drivers.
Debt restructuring success
Since December 2022, the Ghanaian government has embarked on a comprehensive debt restructuring process involving local currency bondholders, official bilateral creditors, and commercial lenders. Under the G20 Common Framework, Ghana successfully completed a domestic debt exchange, achieving approximately 85% participation from eligible bondholders.
The country also finalised a restructuring agreement with its official creditors, as all 25 members of its Official Creditor Committee signed a memorandum of understanding, covering approximately $5.4 billion in bilateral debt. In addition, Ghana reached a deal with over 90% of holders of its $13 billion Eurobond portfolio, marking a significant milestone in its efforts to restore debt sustainability.
These deals allowed the country access to $3 billion from the IMF, thus boosting FX liquidity in the country.
Firming commodity prices
In 2025, commodities such as gold and cocoa that are a mainstay of the Ghanaian forex scene have seen price increases, thus firming up the country’s foreign reserves. Ghana’s gold reserves rose from 22.3 tonnes to 31.2 tonnes as of April 2025, combined with gold hitting all-time high prices in the international market. Ghana’s gold reserves have been instrumental to strengthening the country’s foreign exchange position and supporting external liquidity.
As part of its liquidity support measures, the Bank of Ghana injected over $490 million into the foreign exchange market to stabilize the cedi. This has helped to ease short-term demand pressures and support market confidence.
To curb speculative activity and promote transparency, daily exchange rates are now determined using a weighted median of interbank forex market transactions. This approach enhances both price discovery and overall market efficiency.
Ghana Cedi may average 10.02 in 2025
GITFiC in their report projected that the currency may average 10.02 GHS/$ at the end of 2025. According to the report, the Cedi may strengthen to 7.09 or fall to 13.16 GHS/$ as the risk factors still exist.
The Ghana Cedi had an exchange rate of 5.6 GHS/$ in 2020; however, macroeconomic pressures caused the currency to depreciate by 62 percent to close 2024 at 14.7 GHS/$.
