Ghana in 2023 recorded a trade surplus of GH¢5.3 billion driven largely by gold exports, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) Trade Report, has revealed.
This means that the country exported more products than it imported in the period under review.
The country in 2023 exported products to the value of GH¢186.0 billion, compared with the GH¢180.7 million worth of products it imported.
Similarly, the value of the country's exports increased to GH¢186.0 billion in 2023 from GH¢143.8 billion in 2022 and this represents an increase of GH¢42.2 billion and a 30-percentage points increase over the 2023 value of exports relative to the total export value of 2022.
Speaking at the launch of the GSS Trade Report in Accra yesterday, the Government Statistician, Professor Samuel K. Annim, said the total value of trade for 2023 stood at GH¢366.6 billion representing 43.6 per cent Gross Domestic Product.
As part of the programme, GSS also launched the first quarter 2024 quarterly trade newsletter and Export and Import Price Indices, which measure the relative price of exported and imported products over time, and are used to deflate trade figures from nominal to real values.
Prof. Annim said gold was the main export product in 2023 bringing revenue of GH¢84.4 billion, followed by cocoa bean and products (GH¢20.9 billion) and mineral fuels and oils (GH¢44.6 billion).
Switzerland, South Africa, India and China, he said were the top exports destinations in 2023.
On imports, Prof. Annim said the main imported products in 2023 were mineral fuels and oils and the share of mineral fuels and oils increased by 5.3 percentage points to 32.1 per cent (GH¢58.0 billion) for imports in 2023, adding that the main source of import was Asia and Europe.
"2023 saw a significant increase in trade with Asia. In a reversal from 2022, Asia's share of imports, totalling 41.3 per cent, surpasses Europe's (37.3 per cent) with China emerging as Ghana's largest import partner at GH¢33.9 billion)," the Government Statistician, stated.
Touching on the first quarter 2024 trade report, he said Ghana recorded trade surplus of GH¢11.5 billion with the value in the period under review at GH¢59.5 billion, while the value of import stood at GH¢48.1 billion, adding that the trade surplus for the first quarter 2024 was more than twice the value recorded for the same period last year at GH¢4.5 billion.
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Prof. Annim highlighting on the Export and Import Prices Indices said the increase in the value of the country's export was due to price hikes rather than increase in output.
The Senior Policy Advisor at the Office of the Vice President, Professor Kwaku Appiah-Adu, commended GSS for the report.
He said the Trade Report was crucial to inform policy decision and national development planning and called for the integration of data from all government agencies.
The Head of Trade Statistics at the GSS, Mr Dominic Odoom, said the GSS began the Trade Report in 2022 to provide data on the country's exports and imports to inform national decision making.
He said the source of information for the Trade Report was administrative data on exports and imports from the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
