Cedi Strengthens to One-Week High as Central Bank Sells Dollars

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Ghana’s cedi headed for the highest in a week as the central bank sold dollars.

The currency of the world’s second-biggest cocoa producer appreciated 0.6 percent to 1.6294 per dollar as of 3:04 p.m. in Accra. A close at this level will be the strongest since Oct. 10, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“The central bank supported the market today, causing the cedi to appreciate,” Lourens Harmse, a Johannesburg-based currency trader at Absa Capital Ltd. said in an e-mailed comment.

The central bank sold $98 million today, Adams Nyinaku, head of treasury at the central bank, said in a telephone interview. Out of the total, $48 million went to state oil company Ghana National Petroleum Corporation to import crude, he said.

--Editors: Linda Shen, Peter Branton

To contact reporter on this story: Moses Mozart Dzawu in Accra at mdzawu@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.