Ghana recorded a trade surplus of $1.107 billion in 2021, the Bank of Ghana Summary of Economic and Financial Data has revealed.

This is however lower than the $2.043 billion registered in 2020, and equivalent to 1.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

According to the data, exports for the period stood at $14.73 billion, whilst imports recorded was estimated at $13.62 billion.

The reduction in the trade balance is largely due to the further easing of the economy from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

The data further revealed that gold dominated the total value of exports, recording $5.08 billion in 2021, compared to $6.79 billion in 2020 when there was a windfall in the price of gold on the world market.

Exports from crude oil yielded $3.94 billion for the country in 2021. This is compared with $2.91 billion in 2020.

The impressive outing for crude oil exports was as result of the higher price of crude oil, particularly during the second part of last year.

For imports, non-oil imports was estimated at $10.90 billion, whilst oil imports accounted for $2.71 billion.

Also, the current account balance as of December 2021 stood at a deficit of $2.49 billion, about -3.6% of GDP. This is higher than $2.13 billion recorded during the same period of last year.

The overall balance of payment however stood at $510.1 million in 2021, as against $377.5 million in 2020.