In August 2022, Ghana reported a trade surplus of $1.7 billion. Compared to August 2021, when US$892.4 million was reported, this is an increase.At a press conference on October 6, 2022, the Bank of Ghana made this information public.
The increase, according to Dr. Ernest Addison, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, was brought about by “greater receipts from gold, crude oil, and non-traditional exports, notwithstanding rising need for oil and gas imports.”
Additionally, he mentioned that the nation’s total exports increased by $3.8 billion.
“Total exports went up by 19.5 percent year-on-year to US$11.8 billion. Crude oil exports totalled U$3.8 billion, 56.5 percent higher than observed in 2021, mainly due to price effects.
Gold export earnings also went up by 23.9 percent to US$4.2 billion, supported by increased production volumes triggered by the positive response from small-scale gold exporters to the downward revision of the withholding tax regime from 3 percent to 1.5 percent.
Despite these increases, cocoa receipts declined by 22.8% to hit US$1.7billion.
“However, on account of lower prices and low cocoa purchases, cocoa receipts declined by 22.8 percent to US$1.7 billion from US$2.1 billion.
Total merchandise imports grew by 12.9 percent on a year-on-year basis to US$10.2 billion, mainly driven by a higher oil and gas import bill of US$3.1 billion at the end-August 2022, relative to US$1.7 billion in the same period of 2021. Non-oil imports, however, dipped by 3.8 percent year-on-year to US$7.1 billion in the review period,” he added.