by Dumevi Kwame Apollo
Claim: Malik Basintale, the national deputy communications officer of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) claimed in a Facebook post that his party in Ghana inherited an exchange rate of GHS17.00 to a dollar. The same post was shared on his X account.
Verdict: False. Available data from the Bank of Ghana’s website indicates that as of January 6, 2025, a day before the NDC took over governance, the Cedi was selling at 14.7074 to a dollar and buying at 14.6927 to a dollar.
Full Text
The NDC took over the governance of the Republic of Ghana from the NPP on January 7, 2025, after the current president, John Dramani Mahama, beat the NPP candidate and then Vice-President Dr Mahamadu Bawumiah in an election on December 7, 2024.
Ghana’s currency, the Cedi, has been making significant gains in the forex market since May 2, 2025 when it traded 13.89.. It was trading at 12.31 on May 16, 2025, after suffering severe setbacks months before.
The previous government led by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and Dr Mahamadu Bwumiah as his vice received backlashes, especially from the NDC, the then opposition.
The current performance and positive outlook of the Cedi have generated a lot of commentary, with both the NPP and the NDC trying to score points and take credit.
Malik Basintale, the National Deputy Communication Officer of the NDC joined the fray. He posted on his Facebook wall, praising the Finance Minister, Dr Ato Forson.
In the Facebook post, Malik said, “1 Dollar now at Ghc12.45 from Ghc17 inherited just within 4 months. Eeeei Ato!😄💪🏾❤️This is the Ghana we always wanted (sic)”.
His assertion his party inherited one dollar to 17 Cedis generated over 2,000 comments, over 390 shares and over 12,000 reactions, with some believing he was right and others saying otherwise.
On X, the post generated over 9,000 likes, 437 comments and 923 reposts.
Verification
Surfing through the website of the Bank of Ghana, for verification, we queried it to give us a historical performance of the Cedi against the dollar from January 6, 2025, to May 14, 2025.
The data returned indicates that the Cedi has not depreciated that far to GHS17.00 to a dollar as claimed.
On the eve of the new President’s swearing-in, January 6, 2025, the rate stood at 14.69 to a dollar when buying and 14.707 to a dollar when selling.
Apart from the Bank of Ghana, another widely used website for investing and financial market data, investing.com reported the Cedi to the dollar exchange rate for January 6 and January 7 to be 14.73 for both days.
It is shown below in red. Historical data on the Cedi to dollar rate on this website can be seen here.
Again, the Bank of Ghana website displayed December 2, 2025, as the worst performance of the Cedi in December to be GHS15.187 to a dollar.
The Bank of Ghana’s Facebook page also shared a photo detailing the exchange rate for January 6, 2025.
Conclusion: With the historical Interbank FX data from the Bank of Ghana’s website and their Facebook page as well as from Investing.com, Malik Basintale’s claim that the current government inherited a Cedi to dollar rate of GHS17 to a dollar is false. As of January 6, 2025 the Cedi was around 14.7 dollars.
Dumevi Kwame Apollo is an independent fact checker and currently part of the Prof. Kwame Karikari Fact Checking and OSINT Fellowship 2025, an initiative of DUBAWA and DAIDAC of the Center for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).