Ghana’s export earnings stagnate at $2.8bn as contribution of cocoa drops by $200m

The latest assessment of Ghana’s external sector developments shows that the country earned $2.8 billion from its major exports in the first two months of 2024.

On a year-on-year basis, however, the value of exports did not see any significant growth from the same $2.8 billion posted as of February the previous year.

The figure if compared to the US$ 2.5 billion the country spent on importing goods for the same period resulted in a trade surplus of about US$400 million.

Per the data from the Bank of Ghana’s Summary of Macroeconomic and Financial Data for March 2024, the positive trade balance accounted for 0.5 of GDP, which is a decline from the 1.1% of GDP recorded in February 2023.

Gold maintained its spot as the most dominant contributor to exports. It contributed $1.3 billion in exports.

It was a marginal increase from the $1 billion recorded same period last year.

Following closely were crude oil exports, which totalled $620 million in February 2024, compared to $551 million in February 2023.

However, cocoa came in third with $508 million significantly down from $711 million recorded in the same period last year accounting for some $203 million decline.

On the imports side, oil imports fell from $674 million to $599 million. Non-oil imports also decreased from $1.9 billion to $1.3 billion.

The growth in gross international reserves increased the country’s import cover from 0.5 months to 1.8 months.

Net International Reserves of the country stands at $3.5 billion, a marginal increase from the $2.6 billion recorded in February 2023.

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