Ghana Money

The Ghanaian cedi was redenominated on July 1, 2007 so that what was once ¢10,000 is now GH¢1. The idea is to make the money a bit easier to manage and more easily correlate to the currency of other countries. At the time of this writing, GH¢1 is equal just over $1 USD (the previous 10,000 to 1 ratio was considerably less flattering).

If you're used to the old system, an easy way to remember the conversion is to move the decimal point 4 spaces to the left. That means ¢50,000 is now GH¢5 and ¢500,000 is now GH¢50. 100Gp (pesewas) is equal to GH¢1, just as the US has 100¢ (pennies) in $1.

Partly because there is old currency still floating around, and partly because Ghanaians use various abbreviations when talking about money, there can be some confusion. For example, if someone tells you a statue at a craft market costs "40," you may need to confirm whether that is GH¢40, or ¢40,000 (Ghanaians regularly shorten this to 40 in speaking). It could also mean 40Gp, probably not for a statue, but perhaps for a sachet of water or a coconut. It's a good idea to make an educated guess in some cases (a sachet of water is much more likely 40 pesewas than 40 cedis), but in others, not so much (a statue could very well be 40 new cedis versus 40,000 old ones).

Though some things in Ghana are very affordable from an American perspective, other things (especially those things directed at tourists) are not particularly cheap. Spending over $100 USD per night for a room is common for a 3 or 4 star hotel, and anything you buy in a hotel will be more expensive than the shops locals would typically visit. For example, a 1.5L bottle of Voltic mineral water may be GH¢1.90 at Novotel Accra, while it is 70Gp in most convenience stores.