Latest data from the Bank of Ghana’s Summary of Macroeconomic and Financial Data for November 2020, shows that the country as of October 2020 had received $12 billion from its exports this year.
The value was a decrease from the $12.98 billion recorded in the same period last year.
The report also showed a decrease in total imports from 11.49 billion dollars from January to October 2019 to $10.26 billion for the same period this year.
The data also showed that an estimated $10.26 billion was spent on importing goods for the same period.
Exports and imports for the year up to October declined in value by about 7.5 percent and 10.7 percent respectively when compared to the values recorded within the same period last year.
The data from the Central Bank also showed that Ghana recorded a positive balance of trade as of the end of October 2020. This was despite the fact that both total exports and imports recorded a decline in value.
The general decline recorded across board, can be attributed to the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on oil prices as well as the low trade figures in general.
As at October 2019, the commodity was selling at 59.6 dollars per barrel.
However, it dropped to 41.4 dollars per barrel in October representing a year to date drop of 36.5 percent.
The significant drop in the price of oil saw the value of oil exported by Ghana dropping to 2.4 billion dollars as at October 2020 when compared to the 3.8 billion dollars’ worth of oil exported by October 2019.
On account of strong gold prices on the international market, the value of gold exported from January to October 2020 increased to 5.7 billion dollars, from the 5.2 billion dollars recorded in the same period last year, representing a 10.2 percent surge indicating that investors are still holding trust in gold despite the impact of COVID-19 on the market.
Despite a marginal drop in the price of cocoa, another major export commodity of Ghana for the period under review, the total value exported for the commodity increased by 8.30 percent year-on-year to record 1.8 billion dollars.
citibusinessnews.com
