By The most recent assessment of Ghana’s external sector reveals that the country garnered $2.8 billion from its primary exports during the initial two months of 2024.
However, on a year-on-year basis, the export value exhibited no notable growth compared to the same $2.8 billion recorded in February of the previous year.
When contrasted with the $2.5 billion spent on importing goods during the same period, this figure resulted in a trade surplus of approximately $400 million.
According to data from the Bank of Ghana’s Summary of Macroeconomic and Financial Data for March 2024, this positive trade balance accounted for 0.5% of GDP, marking a decrease from the 1.1% of GDP recorded in February 2023
Gold continued to maintain its position as the leading contributor to exports, amounting to $1.3 billion.
This represented a slight increase from the $1 billion recorded during the same period last year.
Following closely were crude oil exports, totaling $620 million in February 2024, compared to $551 million in February 2023.
However, cocoa ranked third with $508 million, a significant decrease from the $711 million recorded during the same period last year, marking a decline of $203 million.
On the imports side, oil imports decreased from $674 million to $599 million. Non-oil imports also saw a decrease from $1.9 billion to $1.3 billion.
The growth in gross international reserves sustained the country’s import cover at 2.8 months.
Net International Reserves of the country stand at $3.5 billion, a marginal increase from the $2.6 billion recorded in February 2023.
