Ghana's mortgage holders feel the pain as US dollar climbs

Accra

ISAAC Buame felt his dreams had come true two years ago when he moved his family into a plush three-bedroom house in a gated-community east of the Ghanaian capital Accra. It was not until January that he began losing sleep.

The reason: a huge fall in the value of Ghana's cedi currency, which has more than doubled the cost of repayments on his US$90,000 mortgage, which he took denominated in US dollars to secure lower interest rates.