Claim: Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, claimed that the cedi is the best-performing currency in Africa from Feb. to Sept. 2023.
Verdict: Misleading. The Tunisian Dinar has been the best-performing currency in Africa in 2023. The Ghanaian cedi is the fourth-performing currency in Africa.
Full Text
In 2022, the Ghanaian cedi depreciated at an unprecedented rate. According to the International Trade Administration, the cedi depreciated by 55% between Jan. and Oct. 2022 against the US dollar.
As a result, inflation rose to a record 54.1% in Dec. 2022. Prices of goods skyrocketed. The World Bank estimated that over 850,000 Ghanaians were pushed into poverty in 2022. Find other reports of Ghanaians pushed into poverty here and here.
Most government officials and communicators blamed these hardships on the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
However, the cedi appears to have witnessed some stability in 2023.
In an interview on Point of View on Citi TV, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, claimed that the Ghanaian cedi has been the best-performing currency in Africa from Feb. to Sept. 2023.
“We are recovering, to have 3.1% depreciation is pretty good, to the extent that from February this year, Ghana’s currency has been rated the best performing currency in Africa. That is a mark of a change,” he said.
Find claim from 18:50 to 19:15 as posted on Citi TV’s Facebook page on Oct. 11, 2023.
DUBAWA decided to verify this claim to ascertain accuracy.
Verification
DUBAWA contacted Dr Amin Adam to ask for the source of his claim. However, Dr Amin Adam did not respond to our request.
The power of a country’s economy depends on its currency’s value on the global market. This measures the country’s influence in global economies and international politics.
A currency’s strength is determined by factors such as demand and supply in the foreign exchange market and the relative purchasing power for goods and services compared to foreign currencies.
In an article by Business Insider Africa, the Tunisian Dinar was ranked as the best-performing currency as of May 2023. This was followed by the Moroccan Dirham, the Ghanaian Cedi, and the Botswana Pula at second, third, and fourth positions, respectively.
Also, according to FXopen, a renowned international forex trading site, the cedi has traded 11.5 to the USD for most of 2023. This makes the Cedi the fourth-performing currency in Africa for 2023.
Find other publications on the performance of African currencies here, here, here and here. Most of these publications ranked the Ghanaian cedi as the fourth best-performing currency in Africa by mid-year 2023.
Conclusion
The claim that the Ghanaian cedi is the best currency in Africa from Feb. to Sept. 2023 is misleading. The Tunisian Dinar has been ranked the best currency in Africa in 2023.
