Remittances generate more revenue than gold and cocoa – Dr. Atuahene

Banking and Finance analyst, Dr. Richmond Atuahene says Ghana’s inflow from remittances is higher compared to cocoa, oil and even gold.

This according to him is because the country “generated $28.6 billion from it (remittances) over a 10-year period as compared to $18.7 billion from cocoa and $7.6 billion from gold.”

Speaking at the third edition of the Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting on August 20, at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra, Dr. Atuahene stressed that if the revenue generated from gold is added to that of cocoa, remittances will still top leaving a gap of $2.3 billion.

“So that is why some of us have described it as gold, super gold, because it is something if it is well structured, captured, traced into the balance sheet, I think Ghana will be somewhere, I think maybe near Dubai because it is something that will support the economy,” he added.

The comment follows a World Bank report which estimated that about $27.6 billion worth of remittances flowed into Ghana’s economy between 2016 and 2022.

This was in contrast to the Auditor General’s reports on the Bank of Ghana’s consolidated statements of foreign exchange receipts and payments within the same period which accounted for only $22 billion.

The amount leaves a gap of some $5.6 billion.

Touching on this, the banker said the country would earned more if these remittances are well-traced and captured.

“…. I am only talking about the remittances captured by the central bank. The difference between the World Bank is $36 billion, but the country captured only $28 billion, so if we were able to trace, track and capture, we would have captured about $36 billion and that is far more exceedingly above gold and cocoa”, Dr Atuahene said.

The third edition of the Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting is being held under the theme “The Remittance Ecosystem Impact on the Economy.”