Where the cedi stands today
The cedi closed at ₵11.24 against the US dollar on Tuesday — down 3.6% over thirty days as importers stock for the year's second half. Bureau spreads have narrowed to 1.4%, the calmest reading since March.
BoG midrate
updated 11:45 GMT
30-day change
against the dollar
30-day high
reached 7 May
30-day low
reached 6 Apr
GHS / USD · BoG midrate
Source: Bank of Ghana Interbank Exchange Rate · scraped daily 11:45 GMT. Min over period: ₵10.87 · Max: ₵11.28.
Why we watch the cedi every day
The cedi tells you what a month of rent costs an expatriate, what fuel will trade at next NPA window, and what a bag of imported rice will be at Makola by Friday. Every other vertical on this site moves when the cedi moves — sometimes immediately, sometimes with a two-week lag. So Cedi Watch is the most important number we track, even when it sits still for days at a time. Bank of Ghana publishes the official interbank rate daily at 11:30 GMT. Forex bureaus quote retail rates that diverge from interbank by 1.5–3% depending on demand. We track both, because they tell different stories: BoG is what the central bank thinks the cedi is worth; bureaus are what actual Ghanaians are paying to buy dollars today.
— accra.cool desk
Reading the 30-day trend
A 1% weekly move barely registers; a 5% monthly move reshapes household budgets in West Hills, East Legon and Spintex alike. The chart above defaults to 30 days because that's the window where the cedi's direction becomes legible. Shorter windows are noise (a Wednesday BoG auction can swing things 0.3% intraday). Longer windows hide what's happening right now. When the line trends down (cedi strengthening), importers exhale and tomato prices ease at Makola. When it trends up, expect data bundles to be repriced within six weeks and Pent hostel fees to climb the following August.
— accra.cool desk
What forex bureaus are quoting today
Compare the BoG midrate to the best forex bureau quote in any given week. When the spread sits below 1.5%, the market is calm — supply matches demand and bureaus aren't hoarding. When the spread blows past 2.5%, it's a tell: importers are scrambling for dollars, bureaus are rationing, and the official rate is lagging reality. The widest spread we've recorded in our 30-day window is 2.8%, hit on 22 April. It's closed to 1.4% in the most recent week. That's the cedi finding stability after the spring import surge — for now.
| Bureau⇅ | Neighborhood⇅ | Buy USD⇅ | Sell USD⇅ | Spread▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Forex | East Legon | ₵11.31 | ₵11.44 | 1.15% |
| Mac Forex | Tema Community 1 | ₵11.34 | ₵11.48 | 1.23% |
| Mira Forex | Cantonments | ₵11.32 | ₵11.46 | 1.24% |
| Cosmos Forex | Osu | ₵11.28 | ₵11.42 | 1.24% |
| Forex Bureau Limited | Osu | ₵11.30 | ₵11.45 | 1.33% |
Spread definition: (sell − buy) ÷ buy rate. Lower spread = better deal for you. Click column headers to sort.
What actually moves the cedi
Three forces, in roughly this order. First, gold and cocoa export receipts — when Bank of Ghana's reserves swell from a strong cocoa season, the cedi firms. Second, IMF programme tranches and Eurobond rollovers — markets price in whether Ghana stays on track months before each disbursement. Third, retail dollar demand from importers — the back-end of every quarter sees bureaus drained as importers stock up for the next selling cycle. Election cycles overlay all of this; the cedi historically softens 3–6% in the six months before a December election. We're 19 months out from the next one.
— accra.cool desk
Convert any amount
Live conversion uses the BoG midrate. Forex bureaus will quote a slightly different rate at the counter (see the table below).
Cedi against every major currency
| 1 unit of ↓ | in GHS | in USD | in EUR | in GBP | in NGN | in CFA | in CNY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GHS | 1.0000 | 0.088968 | 0.077821 | 0.067024 | 142.86 | 54.9451 | 0.643087 |
| USD | 11.2400 | 1.0000 | 0.874708 | 0.753351 | 1605.71 | 617.58 | 7.2283 |
| EUR | 12.8500 | 1.1432 | 1.0000 | 0.861260 | 1835.71 | 706.04 | 8.2637 |
| GBP | 14.9200 | 1.3274 | 1.1611 | 1.0000 | 2131.43 | 819.78 | 9.5949 |
| NGN | 0.007000 | 0.000623 | 0.000545 | 0.000469 | 1.0000 | 0.384615 | 0.004502 |
| CFA | 0.018200 | 0.001619 | 0.001416 | 0.001220 | 2.6000 | 1.0000 | 0.011704 |
| CNY | 1.5550 | 0.138345 | 0.121012 | 0.104223 | 222.14 | 85.4396 | 1.0000 |
Cross rates derived from BoG midrate. Read a row: 1 of the row currency buys [value] of the column currency.
Forex bureaus versus banks
You can change dollars at a Ghanaian commercial bank — GCB, Stanbic, Ecobank, all of them — but you'll typically get 1.5–2% worse than a licensed forex bureau on amounts under $5,000. Banks build a wider margin into their published rates. Forex bureaus are regulated by Bank of Ghana, must display their daily buy/sell rates publicly, and are concentrated in five neighborhoods: Osu, Adabraka, Cantonments, Tema, and East Legon. For amounts above $10,000 negotiate directly with a branch manager; banks will sharpen pencils.
— accra.cool desk
Common mistakes when reading the cedi
Three to flag. Don't confuse the BoG midrate with what bureaus quote — the midrate is an average of the previous day's interbank trades; bureaus quote forward-looking. Don't assume the parallel market and the bureau market are the same thing — parallel is unregulated, bureaus are licensed. And don't average BoG and bureau rates to get a "true" rate; they're different products with different liquidity. Use the BoG rate for accounting, the bureau rate for actual transactions.
— accra.cool desk
Read next
this week
Cedi changes this week
Every move on the cedi we have flagged in the last seven days.
Read →fuel today
How fuel prices follow the cedi
Pump prices reset every NPA window — and the cedi sets the floor.
Read →market prices
What import prices look like
Makola basket basket index, updated weekly.
Read →