Ghana’s total earnings from exports continue to improve significantly, according to the latest data from the Bank of Ghana (BoG).

The central bank said revenue accrued from the exports has reached $7.5 billion ending June 2021. This was about $200 million more than what the country earned in the same period in 2020.

Details of the earnings

Based on BoG data, gold brought in $2.6 billion ending June 2021 compared to $3.1 billion earned ending June 2021.

Cocoa brought in $1.7 billion compared to $1.5 billion in June ending in 2020, while oil accrued some $1.7 billion to the country compared to $1.4 billion in June 2020.

From the data, gold brought in the highest in terms of earnings compared to cocoa and oil.

However, compared to some of the same periods for last year, Ghana earnings from gold dropped from $3.1 billion to $2.6 billion.

Impact of this development on cedi and economy

This could go a long way to impact the country’s international reserves, a move that will help stabilise the Ghana cedi in these times. 

This is because the more the exports pick up, the should help the country build strong reserves to stabilise the local currency.

New Data from the Bank of Ghana puts the country’s international reserves ending June 2021 at a little over $11 billion. 

This should support Ghana’s import cover for five weeks. This is the highest that the country has posted in recent times. Of this amount, $815 million is coming from Heritage and Stabilisation. The country’s net international reserves stood at $7.9 billion.

Expenditure on Imports
Ghana spent $6.7 billion to finance its import needs ending June 2021. This represents an increase over the $6.3 billion for the same period in June 2020.

Some $1.2 billion was spent on ending June 2021, compared to $916 million. When it comes to non-oil Imports, ending June 2021, $5.5 billion has been spent; this is slightly up from $5.4 billion spent in the same period for last year.

Balance of Payments
Based on the developments, Ghana’s current account ending June 2021 stood at $921 million. Capital and financial Account ending June 2021 was $3.3 billion, representing 4.6 per cent of GDP. The overall Balance of Payment was $2.3 billion.