Ghana achieves positive trade balance of $936 million in Q1 despite coronavirus pandemic

Ghana achieves positive trade balance of $936 million in Q1 despite coronavirus pandemic

Ghana achieves positive trade balance: Despite the presence of the coronavirus pandemic, Ghana recorded a positive trade balance of US$936 million, about 1.4% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2020 as against US$642, approximately 1.0% of GDP in March 2019.

On a whole, the nation bagged US$3.93 billion from exports of gold, cocoa, and oil as against US$2.99 billion of imports, the Bank of Ghana’s Summary of Economic and Financial Data revealed.

So, until something dramatic happens, the nation will be cruising to a trade surplus for the fourth year running.

For the statistics, gold export for Q1 2020 was US$1473 billion, whilst cocoa and oil exports were US$959 million and US$874 million respectively.

Regarding imports, oil imports alone were US$511 million, whilst non-oil imports were US$2488.9 million in the first three months of 2020.

However, the three weeks lockdown which impacted the larger parts of April 2020 may reduce non-traditional exports significantly.

From January to February 2020, the value of merchandise exports was provisionally estimated at US$2,75 billion, indicating a year-on-year increase of 3.4 percent.

Of the total, exports of cocoa beans and products amounted to US$679.7 million, registering a 21.7 percent year-on-year growth.

Gold exports amounted to US$985.91 million, up by 5.7 percent in year-on-year terms. Crude oil exports however declined by 6.6 percent to US$681.8 million, from US$730.0 million recorded in 2019 primarily due to a price effect on account of weaker global demand arising from COVID-19 and other geopolitical factors.