Trade Surplus Hits $1.33bn In First Quarter

Ghana’s trade surplus was pegged at $1.33 billion in the first four months of 2022, according to the Bank of Ghana Summary of Economic and Financial Data.

The figure is higher than the $1.107 billion recorded in he whole of 2021.

This is approximately 1.9% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Bank of Ghana said total exports in the 4-months of 2021 was $6.10 billion as against total imports of $4.77 billion.

The increase in the trade balance it said was due to factors including an increase in the price of crude oil on the world market and improved gold production in the country.

The data further revealed that gold dominated the total value of exports, recording $1.87 billion in April 2022, followed by oil which registered $1.85 billion in April 2022.

Cocoa exports, however, declined to $1.11 billion in April 2022, from $1.29 billion in April 2021.

In 2021, gold exports for the first four months was estimated at $1.80 billion.

Oil exports for the first four months of 2021 was however estimated at $1.14 billion.

For imports, non-oil imports was estimated at $3.49 billion in April 2022, whilst oil imports accounted for $1.27 billion.

Also, the current account balance as of April 2022 stood at a deficit of $128.2 million, about -0.2% of GDP.

This is lower than the deficit of $197 billion, approximately -0.2% of GDP recorded during the same period of last year.

The overall balance of payment however stood at -$934.5 million in April 2022 as against -$429.9 million in April 2021.