A report of 15 Africa top performing currencies so far from January 2022 has been announced.
According to the report put out by Data Bank, the South African Rand is the top performing currency at the moment with 4.56% followed by Namibian Dollar of 4.49%.
Ghana cedis is ranked 2nd worst currency in Africa as it continues to depreciate by 4.0% to the US dollar according to the data.
This simply means that, Ghana cedis is ranked 14th performing currencies among 15 currencies in the report.
The report stated that the Zambian kwacha which is one of the top performing currencies in Africa in 2021, is the worst so far in 2022. It has declined in value by 11.29% to the US dollar.
Earlier, Bloomberg tracking of African currencies revealed that the Ghana Cedi placed 14th on the league of African currencies in 2021.
The local currency was classified among the currencies with the ‘worst spot returns’.
According to Bloomberg, the cedi lost 4.98% in value against the US dollar in 2021, although data from other research institutions show a slightly lower decline in the value of the local currency to the American currency.
What does this mean for countries with worst performing currencies?
Financial experts believe that, countries with worst performing currencies should expect the following.
- Reduction in foreign direct investment
- Massive capital flight
- Increase inflation
- Reduced economic growth
- Reduced GDP (gross domestic product)
- Increase in graduate unemployment
- Reduction in government’s expenditure on infrastructure projects
- Unstable prices of commodities making it difficult for any meaningful planning.
- Reduction in trade volumes
- Increase in hardship in countries coupled with increasing crime rate etc.
