Claim: Government of Ghana’s intervention caused the dollar to cedi exchange rate to drop 

Source: Social Media  

Verdict: Misleading!

Researched by Samuel Adjetey Adjei

On March 4, 2025, multiple social media users shared screenshots of Google’s live forex dashboard suggesting that the cedi-dollar exchange rate was at GH¢8.28 to US$1. At the time, however, the known Bank of Ghana and interbank rate was hovering around GH¢15 to a dollar. A screengrab of the post in circulation

GhanaFact observed that some social media users claimed the slump of the dollar was due to the policy actions by the new government led by President John Dramani Mahama, sparking debate across digital platforms.   

Screenshots of posts claiming the dollar dropped due to government intervention

a. Did the cedi ‘appreciate’ against the dollar to reach GH¢8?

b. Was it as a result of any government policy as portrayed on social media?

This fact-check report seeks to verify these claims. 

Fact-check

GhanaFact’s checks on Google’s live forex dashboard confirmed that on March 4, 2025, starting from 3:30 pm, the known rate of GH¢15.5 cedis to a dollar plummeted to GH¢8.28 (as at 4:00 pm). The rate subsequently returned to GH¢15.5 around 5:30 pm.  

Screenshots of Google’s live foreign exchange dashboard 

To better appreciate the incident, GhanaFact spoke to Dr Theophilus Acheampong, an economist and political risk analyst, who indicated that the development was as a result of a software glitch on the part of Google.

“It was a software glitch by Google, other platforms had the correct figure but it was fixed by Google the same day,” he said, dismissing claims that the dollar slump had anything to do with economic management by the government.

Per our checks, this is not the first time such a glitch has occurred. In 2019, Google formally notified the then government of a glitch that caused the cedi to plummet against the dollar.

Google’s currency conversion rates on March 15, 2019 showed that the cedi was trading at a rate of 22.72 to one US dollar – an increase of more than 300% on the previous day. The cedi at the time was hovering around GH¢5.39.

“The figure was the result of an error from the search engine, not a disastrous financial crash. Google explained the mistake in a letter to Ghana’s Ministry of Finance, which the ministry publicized in a press release,” a CNN report said.

Therefore, it is a fact that the dollar sharply depreciated against the cedi but there is no evidence connecting this drop to government actions.  

Verdict 

The claim that the appreciation of the cedi had something to do with political economic management is rated as Misleading!