Ghana’s total exports earnings drops by 8.9%

Ghana depends largely on exports for its foreign exchange earnings. But the Bank of Ghana announced recently that the country’s export earnings have declined.

The Bank says the country’s export earnings declined in the first eight months of 2023. It said the trade account registered a surplus of $2 billion, compared with $1.6 billion recorded in the same period of last year. This was largely due to import compression, and a decline in exports, it explained.

According to the central bank, total exports earnings declined by 8.9 percent year-on-year to $10.8 billion, driven mainly by a significant drop in crude oil and cocoa products exports, some of the country’s main exports.

In the review period, the Bank indicated that crude oil exports decreased sharply by $1.5 billion due to an 18.8 percent dip in production volumes as well as a 23.6 percent decline in prices.

Exports of cocoa beans and products remained broadly unchanged at $1.6 billion compared with the same period in 2022, as the higher production volumes of the beans balanced out the lower volumes of cocoa products.

It noted that gold exports however increased to $4.7 billion, on account of an 8.5 percent rise in the volumes exported and 1.9 percent increase in prices.

Earnings from other exports, including non-traditional exports, decreased marginally by 1.6 percent to $2.1 billion.

“Total imports contracted by 14.7 percent to $8.8 billion, from $10.3 billion a year earlier. This was attributed to a 13.1 percent contraction in non-oil imports to $6.1 billion, as well as a dip in oil and gas imports of 18.2 percent to $2.7 billion,” it said in a statement.

By Emmanuel K Dogbevi
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