New figures from the Bank of Ghana have shown that Ghana’s total balance of trade recorded a surplus of US$1.33 billion in the first four months of this year.

This, according to the Central Bank’s Summary of Economic and Financial Data, is equivalent to 1.9 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The surplus recorded is higher than the US$1.1 billion recorded in the entire 2021.

The figures which summarize Ghana’s economic activities in the month of April stated that Ghana’s total exports increased to US$6.1 billion as of April 2022.

This was a 34 percentage points increase from the US$4.5 billion recorded in March.

The increase in the trade balance can be attributed to the increase in the price of crude oil on the world market and an increase in gold production in the country.

The BoG data further revealed that gold dominated the total value of exports, recording US$1.87 billion in April this year, up from US$1.4 billion recorded in March.

Oil followed suit with US$1.85 billion worth of exports in the same month under review.

Although cocoa exports also rose by 24 percentage points to record US$1.11 billion in April compared to the US$895 million registered in March, the amount of exports declined when compared to the US$1.29 billion gotten in April last year.

Meanwhile, the total amount of imports for April 2022 stood at US$4.77 billion.

According to the report, non-oil imports were estimated at US$3.49 billion, while oil imports accounted for US$1.27 billion for April 2022.