Ghana recorded a trade surplus of $200 million in the first half of the year, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) Trade Report, has revealed.
This implies that the country last exported more products than it imported into the country.
In the first half of the year, the country exported products to the tune of $8.1 billion and imported products to the tune of $7.9 billion, with most imports coming from China.
Gold and mineral fuels and oils were the leading exports in the first half of the year, representing more than half (64.0 per cent) of exports in 2023.
The share of gold exports were 9.4 percentage points higher in the first half of 2023 compared to 2022, while that of mineral fuels and oil exports was 8.5 percentage points lower.
Government Statistician, Professor Samuel K. Annim, disclosed this during the launch of the 2023 half-year trade report on the topic “Ghana 2023 Mid-Year Trade Report: Highlighting Intra-Africa trade report”.
The launch of the report was also used to mark the celebration of this year’s African Statistics Day, which is on the theme “Modernising data ecosystems to accelerate the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA): The role of official statistics and big data in the economic transformation and sustainable development of Africa.”
Prof. Annim speaking on the report said the trade report built on the 2022 Trade Vulnerability Report and offered additional statistics on Ghana’s external trade with a specific focus on food, intra-African trade, aligning with the 2023 theme of the African Statistics Day.
He said data for the report was taken from Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority and about one-third of Ghana’s export for half of this year went to Europe, while there was a 6.4 percentage increase in imports from Europe.
Prof. Annim said gold made more than half of all the exports to Europe (53.4 per cent) and almost half for Asia (48.0 per cent) and Africa ( 47.0 per cent), and for North America, the main exports commodity was mineral fuels and oils, contributing three-quarters (74.2 per cent) of all exports.
“Cocoa beans and products represent a quarter of exports (24.7 per cent) to Europe, the highest across continents, followed by North America (17.6 per cent) then Asia (13.2 per cent),” he stated.
On trade in food products, Prof. Annim said food products constituted about one-fourth (23.9 per cent) of total exports in the first half of the year of 2023, while imports of food products accounted for 13.3 per cent of total imports.
He said more than 50.0 per cent of food imports fell into five distinct categories such as cereals and grain products (22.8 per cent), animal or vegetable fats and oils (12.7 per cent), cereals (9.1 per cent) and sugar products (8.6 per cent).
On intra-African trade, Prof. Annim said the total value of exports to African countries in the first half of the year stood at GH¢19.3 billion and imports stood at GH¢7.7 billion.
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, in his remarks said trade statistics was important as it provided the country with invaluable insights into trends, challenges, and opportunities that shape the landscape of international trade.
The Director of ISSER, Professor Peter Quartey, who chaired the programme commended GSS for producing the Trade Report, saying it would help the private sector to plan and invest.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
