SINCE January 2020 Steve Hanke, a Professor of Applied Economics and Director of the Troubled Currencies Project in the United States, has been publishing Hanke’s currency watchlist, a group of currencies that have depreciated by at least 20 percent against the dollar.
Hanke, who is also a professor at Johns Hopkins University, explains that the currencies of the countries on his list have suffered massive devaluations against the US dollar since January 2020.
Hanke’s currency watchlist below shows the ranking order of inflation rates and currency devaluations of countries. Inflation rates and currency devaluations are always linked.
Here are the 7 worst-performing currencies in Africa in 2022
Zimbabwean dollar
ACCORDING to the latest ranking by Hanke’s Currency Watchlist, the Zimbabwean dollar is the worst-performing currency in Africa against the United States dollar. The Zimbabwean dollar has depreciated against the USD by 97.33 percent since January 2020. ‘Zimbabwe must dump the Zim dollar and adopt the USD immediately,’ Hanke said in a Twitter post.
Sudanese pound
In second place is the Sudanese pound, which has depreciated against the USD by 84.95 percent since Jan 2020. According to Hanke, the only way to save Sudan’s pound and its economy is to install a currency board.
South Sudanese pound
South Sudan ranks third on the list after the nation’s currency depreciated against the USD by 50.79 percent since Jan 2020. Hanke says South Sudan’s economic death spiral never ends.
Nigerian naira
Fourth on the list is the Nigeria Naira, whose value has depreciated against the USD by 48.87 percent since Jan 2020.
Ghana cedis
Ghana ranks 5th in this week’s Hanke’s #CurrencyWatchlist of worst-performing currencies in Africa. According to Hanke, the Ghanaian cedi has depreciated 42.57 percent against the USD since January 2020.
‘To save the cedi, Ghana must mothball its central bank and install a currency board,’ Hanke said in a post on his Twitter page.
Malawian kwacha
Malawi ranks 6th place in this week’s Hanke’s #CurrencyWatchlist. ‘The kwacha has depreciated against the USD by 39.54 percent since Jan 2020, by measure, and is yet another central bank junk currency,’ says Hanke in a Twitter post.
Sierra Leonean Leone
Sierra Leone takes 7th place in this week’s Hanke’s #CurrencyWatchlist. The leone has depreciated against the USD by 31.23 percent since Jan 1, 2020. According to Hanke, SLE’s currency redenomination has done nothing to end SLE’s economic death spiral.