According to the most recent data from the Bank of Ghana’s Summary of Macroeconomic and Financial Data for January 2024, the nation earned $16.6 billion from exports as of December 2023, while spending an estimated $14,000 billion on imports during the same time frame.
This suggests a rise from November 2022’s 12.9 billion dollars in exports and 12.8 billion dollars in imports.
However, compared to the $17.4 billion recorded during the same period last year, the value of all exports decreased year over year.
The country’s export-to-import differential during the period under review, according to Central Bank data, produced a $2.6 billion positive trade balance.
Compared to November 2023, when the positive trade balance accounted for 2.7% of GDP, this figure improved to 3.4% of GDP.
Gold and cocoa are two commodities that made up $2.1 billion and $7.6 billion of the total export value, respectively.
Of the total value of exports, $3.8 billion came from oil exports, with the remaining $3 billion coming from other exports.
Oil and non-oil imports made up $3.6 billion and $7.7 billion of the total import value, respectively.
Increased exports helped the nation’s gross international reserves rise, from $4.9 billion at the end of September 2023 to $5.1 billion at the end of October 2023.
A slight increase in the nation’s import cover from 2.3 months in September to 2.4 months in October was caused by growth in gross international reserves.
The nation’s net international reserves, however, are currently $2.1 billion, a slight rise over the $2 billion noted in September 2023.