Ghana’s trade performance improved in the first four months of 2023, as it recorded a trade surplus of $1.6 billion, equivalent to about 2.2% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
This was an increase from the $1.15 billion (1.6% of GDP) surplus recorded in the same period in 2022. The Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) May 2023 Summary of Economic and Financial Data revealed that total exports amounted to $5.64 billion by April 2023, while total imports were valued at $4.04 billion.
Gold was the main export commodity, bringing in $2.17 billion in April 2023, compared to $1.84 billion in April 2022. Cocoa exports also rose from $1.03 billion in the first four months of 2022 to $1.25 billion in the same period in 2023, overtaking crude oil as the second most valuable export commodity.
Crude oil exports, however, declined from $1.85 billion in April 2022 to $1.17 billion in April 2023. On the import side, oil imports cost $1.20 billion in April 2023, while non-oil imports cost $2.84 billion.
The trade surplus contributed to a positive current account balance of $661.4 million (0.9% of GDP) in April 2023. However, this was offset by a negative capital and financial account balance of $955 million (1.4% of GDP) in April 2023, due to a net outflow of portfolio investments.
As a result, Ghana’s balance of payments showed a deficit of $353 million (0.5% of GDP) at the end of March 2023, which was an improvement from the $934 million (1.4% of GDP) deficit recorded at the end of March 2022.
Ghana’s Gross International Reserves stood at $5.21 billion at the end of April 2023, which could cover about 2.4 months of imports.
