From king to disaster: The cedi’s brutal fall

“Bloomberg crowned the cedi king in May 2025, then called it a disaster by September. That’s no coincidence. The truth is, Ghana exports raw cocoa and gold, imports everything else, and props up the cedi with IMF and World Bank dollars. That kind of confidence is not built on productivity; it is rented, and rent always expires.”

In May 2025, Ghana was on the front page of Bloomberg as a shining star. The cedi was declared the world’s best-performing currency, lauded as a symbol of recovery and stabilization. Government communicators rushed to celebrate, and some even called it “proof” of economic transformation.

Fast forward to September 2025, and the story flipped on its head. The same Bloomberg now lists the cedi as the world’s worst-performing currency for the third quarter. In just four months, Ghana’s “king” currency had become a “disaster.” The fall was not accidental; it was inevitable.

The uncomfortable truth is simple: Ghana produces little to nothing of value beyond raw cocoa beans and unrefined gold. These are shipped out to the West, while the nation imports almost everything else, from rice and tomatoes to cars and fuel. This colonial trade pattern keeps the economy vulnerable and the cedi exposed.

The temporary surge in May was never about production or competitiveness. It was about dollar injections, small reserves from the Bank of Ghana, and borrowed funds from the IMF and World Bank to calm jittery investors. That kind of confidence is not built on productivity; it is rented, and rent always expires.

So, should Ghanaians be surprised? A currency propped up by aid and loans rather than exports and industry is a house built on sand. When the tide of global markets shifts, the façade collapses.

The real question is this: how many more times will Ghana celebrate “currency victories” that rest not on hard work and production, but on borrowed dollars and statistical spin?

Until the fundamentals change, until Ghana produces, processes, and exports value, the cedi will continue its tragic cycle of brief glory and long humiliation.

Author: Prof. Isaac Boadi, Dean, Faculty of Accounting and Finance, UPSA, and Executive Director, Institute of Economic and Research Policy, IERPP

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