Less than a year ago, Ghana’s cedi was the continent’s biggest macroeconomic success story.
After appreciating by more than 40 percent against the United States dollar in 2025—the first annual gain in nearly 33 years—the cedi emerged as Africa’s best-performing currency. The rally restored investor confidence, slowed inflation to single digits, strengthened Ghana’s foreign exchange reserves, and became a symbol of the country’s remarkable recovery from the debt crisis that pushed it into an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.
Today, that narrative has changed.
Since the start of the year, the cedi’s steady depreciation has culminated in it becoming the continent’s weakest-performing currency in July, marking a reversal from the record rally that made it the continent’s standout performer last year.
Data compiled by real-time data tracking platform African Markets show the cedi has depreciated by 11.6 percent against the dollar this year as of July 28, making it the poorest-performing currency among 17 African currencies tracked.
