Software in a moving currency: buying and pricing technology when the cedi swings

A budget line that moves by itself

Most software sold to organisations in Ghana is priced in US dollars. The invoice says US$20 a user a month, or US$500 a year, and the finance team converts it into cedis when the card is charged. For years that conversion was treated as a detail. Since 2021 it has been one of the largest variables in the cost of running an organisation on software.

The Bank of Ghana's year-end figures tell the story.¹ At the end of 2021 one US dollar cost GH₵6.01. By the end of 2024 it cost GH₵14.70. A subscription that never changed its dollar price had become 2.4 times as expensive in the currency the organisation earns. Then, in 2025, the cedi gained 40.7%, ending the year at GH₵10.45, before losing ground again in 2026.

This article sets out what that volatility means for organisations that buy technology, why it is not only a Ghanaian problem, how the world's large software vendors handle it, and what buyers and sellers can do. The conclusion is practical: currency risk is a real cost of software, it belongs in the buying decision, and both sides can share it more sensibly than they do today.

Volatility, not just depreciation

It is tempting to read the table as a story of a weakening currency. The harder problem is that the direction changes.

In the first half of 2026 the cedi lost 7.9% against the dollar on the interbank market, after gaining 42.6% in the first half of 2025.² By September 2026 its loss for the year had reached 9.5%, at about GH₵11.55 to the dollar.³ In mid-October the interbank selling rate was about GH₵11.66.⁴

For a finance team, a steady fall would at least be predictable. Swings in both directions are worse: a budget set in December can be wrong by a fifth either way by June. An organisation that renewed annual dollar contracts at the end of 2024 locked in the most expensive cedi price of the decade. One that delayed until the end of 2025 paid about 29% fewer cedis for the same contract. Neither outcome had anything to do with the software.

The broader economy has stabilised, which makes this a good moment to fix the habit rather than suffer it. The IMF completed the final review of Ghana's programme in July 2026, noting that gross reserves had nearly doubled to US$11.9 billion, about four months of imports, and that inflation was 5.3% in June.⁵ The Bank of Ghana held its policy rate at 14.0% in September, with reserves of US$12.0 billion.⁶ Calmer conditions do not remove currency risk. They make it cheaper to manage.

Not only a Ghanaian problem

Ghana's experience is shared across many fast-growing economies, which is why the lessons travel.

Nigeria's naira went from ₦907.1 to the dollar at the end of 2023 to ₦1,535 at the end of 2024.⁷ The consequences reached the largest companies: MTN Nigeria reported a net foreign exchange loss of ₦925.36 billion for 2024 and a loss after tax of ₦400.4 billion, even as revenue grew by 35.9%.⁸ When dollars were scarce, Nigerian banks cut how much customers could spend abroad on naira cards, in some cases to US$20 a month in 2022.⁹ They have since raised those limits as supply eased, each bank setting its own, from US$8,000 a quarter at one to US$50,000 a year at another by September 2026.¹⁰

Egypt floated its pound in March 2024; it moved from about EGP 30 to the dollar, where it had been held for nearly a year, to an average of EGP 49.5 the next day, a fall of about 39%.¹¹ Kenya's shilling went the other way: after passing KSh 160 to the dollar in January 2024, it had strengthened to KSh 139.49 by mid-March.¹²

For a software buyer, the pattern is the same everywhere. Prices set in a foreign currency transfer the full exchange risk to the customer, and access to that currency can itself be rationed. A subscription that lapses because a card limit was reached is a business continuity problem, not a procurement one.

How global vendors handle it

Large software companies have three broad approaches, and buyers should know which one they are dealing with.

Price in dollars and convert. The simplest model puts all the risk on the buyer. Microsoft's own pricing guidance for its Azure cloud says monthly costs are first calculated in US dollars and then converted at rates set near the end of the previous month; it lists several countries, including South Africa, where local-currency billing has been withdrawn in favour of dollars.¹³

Set local prices and review them. Some vendors publish local prices and adjust them periodically. Microsoft's commercial price changes from July 2026 apply worldwide “with local market adjustments in certain regions to reflect currency and market conditions”.¹⁴ Apple adjusts App Store prices and developer proceeds for tax and exchange-rate changes; in January 2026 it changed Ghana proceeds to reflect the removal of a levy.¹⁵ Netflix raised its Nigerian prices for the third time since 2024 in June 2025, citing local conditions including taxes and inflation.¹⁶

Accept local payment. Some vendors now accept local currencies at checkout. Amazon Web Services began accepting Nigerian naira and Egyptian pounds by credit card in January 2025; the cedi is not on its list.¹⁷

Each approach moves the risk somewhere. Dollar pricing leaves it with the buyer. Local pricing with periodic review shares it, with a lag. Local payment helps with access to foreign currency but not necessarily with the price.

Underneath all three, software is getting more expensive in its home currency too. Vertice, which tracks software spending, measured software price inflation at 16.4% in June 2026, a record on its index, and 14.3% in September on preliminary data.¹⁸ A Ghanaian buyer of dollar-priced software faces both forces at once: rising list prices and a moving exchange rate.

The tax layer has changed too

Currency is not the only thing between a dollar list price and the cost in cedis. Ghana's new VAT Act, in force from 1 January 2026, kept the standard VAT rate at 15%, abolished the COVID-19 levy and the flat-rate scheme, made the 2.5% health and education levies deductible as input tax, and expressly included the supply of software and software updates among digital services.¹⁹

In October 2026 the Ghana Revenue Authority said that about 92 non-resident digital service providers were registered and remitting VAT, with about 100 more to follow, and that its new real-time system collects VAT at the point of payment on Ghana-issued cards and mobile money, at an effective rate of 20%. It stressed that no new tax was being introduced.²⁰

For buyers, this means the cedi cost of foreign software now routinely includes VAT and levies collected at payment, whether or not the vendor's invoice shows them. VAT-registered organisations should check that they can obtain the documents needed to claim input tax; those that cannot will carry the full 20% as a cost.

How to buy technology in a moving currency

Currency risk cannot be wished away, but it can be priced, shared and capped. For organisations buying software:

1. Budget in cedis, under three rates. For every dollar-priced tool, work out the annual cost at today's rate, at a rate 20% weaker and at one 20% stronger. If the weak case breaks the budget, the tool is riskier than its list price suggests. The 2022–2025 table shows that a 20% move in a year is ordinary, not extreme.¹
2. Prefer contracts in the currency you earn. Where a credible vendor offers cedi pricing, the exchange risk moves to the party better placed to manage it. Ask how often prices are reviewed and how much notice you get.
3. Negotiate a cap on renewal increases. Whatever the currency, ask for a written limit on how much the price can rise at renewal. Global software inflation is running in double digits.¹⁸
4. Time annual prepayments. When the cedi is strong, paying a year in advance locks in the cedi cost. That is a treasury decision as much as a procurement one, and it should be made deliberately.
5. Watch the usage-priced parts. Messaging, storage, AI and transaction fees are often priced per unit in dollars even when the subscription is not. They grow with success and carry exchange risk with them.
6. Plan for access, not only price. Keep at least two ways to pay critical vendors, know your bank's limits on foreign card spending, and set renewal reminders well before a card expires. A lapsed subscription can stop operations.
7. Account for VAT properly. Check how VAT on foreign digital services reaches you and whether you can recover it.²⁰
8. Keep the exit open. Choose tools that let you export your data in a usable form. The cheapest protection against a vendor whose price becomes unaffordable is the ability to leave.

How to price software in a moving currency

The same reasoning applies from the seller's side, and it is a competitive opportunity for software companies whose customers earn in volatile currencies.

• Price in the customer's currency. It removes the largest unpredictable cost from the buyer's decision and makes annual contracts easier to approve.
• Record the reference rate. Write down the exchange rate each price was set at, and review prices on a published schedule rather than by surprise. Customers accept change more readily when it is predictable.
• Separate what you control from what you do not. Where a product passes through dollar costs that scale with use, such as messaging or compute, sell them as clearly labelled usage packs, so that a rise in one does not force a rise in everything.
• Give notice and grandfather fairly. A price change announced well before renewal, with existing annual contracts honoured, preserves trust.
• Show prices without tax and with tax. Buyers need both, and the 2026 VAT changes make clarity more valuable.¹⁹

Currencies will keep moving. The organisations that treat that movement as a known cost, and the vendors that share it fairly, will spend less time explaining budget overruns and more time using the software they bought.