Ghana records over $200m trade surplus in two months

New figures from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) show that, Ghana’s trade balance increased by US$231.9 million between June and August.

This means, Ghana’s trade balance grew by about 13 percent from the US$ 1.78 billion recorded in July 2023.

It brings the country’s total trade balance to US$ 2.01 billion as at August 2023 representing 2.6 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The year-on-year interpretation indicates that, this new trade balance also represents a 29 percentage points increase from the US$ 1.56 billion recorded in August 2022.

Currently, the country’s total exports stand at US$ 10.76 billion up from the US$ 8.16 observed in June 2023.

However, it represents a nine percent drop compared to the U$11.81 billion recorded in August 2022.

Gold remains the most significant contributor to exports. It contributed $4.67 billion in exports as of August 2023, compared to $3.46 billion in June 2023.

Following closely were crude oil exports, which totaled $2.37 billion in August 2023, compared to $1.66 billion in June 2023.

Cocoa came in third with $1.60 billion, up from $1.45 billion the recorded in June this year.

Balance of Payment

Ghana’s balance of payment remained negative as of June 30.

The country had a balance-of-payments deficit of $341.8 million which is about 0.4% of GDP.

The Capital and Financial Account Balance was $907.2 million in deficit.

In addition, Gross International Reserves were $5.09 billion in August 2023, equivalent to nearly Net International Reserves amounted to US$ 2.20 billion.

Source: Ghana Business