The country’s external sector position continued to improve significantly in the first eight months of this year.

This is supported by a current account surplus, reflecting higher gold export receipts, import compression, and lower outflows from the services and income accounts.

According to the Bank of Ghana, the lower balance of payments deficit, the domestic gold purchase programme, as well as inflows from the mining sector and the liquidation of some short-term external liabilities contributed to rebuilding the country’s reserve buffers.

In the last quarter of the year, the Central Bank said a reserve accumulation would be further bolstered by the expected inflows from the cocoa syndication loan, the second tranche of the International Monetary Fund Economic Credit Facility programme, and other multilateral inflows.

The balance of payments for the first six months of the year recorded some improvements. The current account recorded a surplus of $859.1 million from a deficit of $1.1 billion last year.

The sharp improvement in the current account reflected a significant reduction in external debt service payments on the Eurobond, bilateral and some commercial loans, resulting in over $2.0 billion temporary savings in the year to September 2023 due to the external debt service standstill.

For the same period in 2022, the current account recorded a deficit of $2.5 billion.