Ghana’s international reserves remained at a low 2.9 months of import cover in October 2022.

According to data from the Bank of Ghana, net International Reserves, which exclude encumbered assets and petroleum funds, stood at $2.84 billion in October 2022.

This is compared with the September 2021 position of $2.66 billion, also equivalent to 2.9. months of import cover.

Net international reserves have been declining from $6.07 billion in January 2022, about 4.4 months of import cover, largely due to the liquidation of investments by foreign investors.

For gross international reserves, it stood at $6.67 billion in October 2022, from $8.76 billion in January 2022.

Trade surplus hits $1.87bn

Meanwhile, Ghana recorded a trade surplus of $1.87 billion in October 2022, about 2.8% of Gross Domestic Product.

This far exceeded the surplus of $1.02 billion recorded during the same period in 2021.

In September 2022, the nation recorded a trade surplus of $1.75 billion, 2.6% of GDP.

According to the Bank of Ghana’s Summary of Economic and Financial Data, this was driven by higher receipts from crude oil and gold.

Importantly, total exports went up by 17.8% year-on-year to $14.3 billion.

Crude oil exports totalled $5.33bn

Crude oil exports totalled $4.61 billion in October 2022, higher than the $3.10 billion recorded in October 2021. This is mainly due to price effects.

Gold export earnings also went up by 26.4% to $5.33 billion, supported by increased production volumes triggered by the positive response from small-scale gold exporters.

However, on account of lower prices and low cocoa purchases, cocoa receipts declined to $1.77 billion in October 2022, compared to $2.44 billion in October 2021.

Total imports increased by 11.79%

Meanwhile, total imports increased by 11.79% on a year-on-year basis to $12.45 billion. This was mainly driven by higher oil and gas import bill.