Ghana’s current account deficit is set to widen to 5.8% this year, before narrowing slightly to 5.2% in 2024.

This is higher than all forecasts by international research institutions.

According to the October 2022 World Bank Africa Pulse Report, the deterioration in the current account balance is consistent with the combination of skyrocketing import bills and the fall of the cedi.

Again, it said countries with the West Africa Monetary Union will experience an uptick in their deficit from 4.1% in 2021 to 6.3% in 2022, and back to 4.6% next year.

“Similarly, the current account deficit will widen for non-resource-rich countries due to rising import bills fueled by soaring food and fuel prices, yet the size of the deficit is expected to narrow to 5% in 2024, from 7% in 2021. More than two-thirds of countries with double-digit current account deficits are non-resource-rich countries, and the remaining are mineral and metal resource-rich countries” it added.

Earlier in the year, Fitch Solutions said Ghana’s current account deficit will narrow to 2.8% of Gross Domestic Product in 2022, from 3.2% in 2021. 

It, therefore, said this marks a revision from its previous 2022 projection of a deficit of 3.1% of GDP, reflecting weaker-than-anticipated merchandise import growth of 7.7% year-on-year over the first four months of 2022, while exports grew by 17.1%.