Ghana recorded a trade surplus of $1.43 billion in the first half of this year, higher than the $886 million recorded during the same period last year.

This is equivalent to 2% of Gross Domestic Product.

According to the Summary of Economic and Financial Data of the Bank of Ghana, the country bagged $9.0 billion in six months of this year, triggered by increases in gold and crude oil exports.

Total imports however stood at $7.56 billion. This was dominated by oil imports of $5.28 billion.

For exports, the data further revealed that gold dominated the total value of exports, recording $3.01 billion in June 2022, followed by oil which registered $2.83 billion in June 2022.

This is compared with $2.66 billion and $1.75 billion during the same period last year

The impressive outing for crude oil exports so far in 2022 is as a result of the higher price of the commodity. Crude oil is presently hovering around $102 per barrel.

Again, increased gold production has resulted in a surge in gold exports.

For imports, non-oil imports was estimated at $5.28 billion in June 2022, whilst oil imports accounted for $2.28 billion.

Also, the current account balance as of June 2022 stood at a deficit of $1.09 billion, -1.8% of GDP. This is far higher than the deficit of $128.2 million recorded in April 2022.

The weakening in the current account, the Central Bank said was primarily due to higher net outflows from the income and services account, in particular, repatriation of profits and dividends, which offset the gains in the trade account.

Again, the capital and financial account recorded significant portfolio reversals and net outflows in the other investment accounts, as well as lower foreign direct investments.

The combined effect of the widened current account deficit and higher net outflows in financial account resulted in an overall balance of payments deficit of $2.5 billion at end-June 2022, compared with a surplus of $2.4 billion in the same period last year.