Estimates provided by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) indicate that merchandise trade deficit for the period January to May this year
contracted sharply on the back of a significant decline in imports,
outperforming the slowdown in exports. Total merchandise exports were $5.9 billion, down by 7.5 percent from the US$6.3 billion recorded in the same period of 2013. This was mainly due to lower earnings in gold and crude oil. Gold exports amounted to
US$1.8 billion as both gold prices and volumes fell by 17 and 7 percent year-on-year respectively. This compares with gold export
earnings of US$2.3 billion in the corresponding period of 2013.
Cocoa beans and products amounted to US$1.5 billion compared
with US$1.3 billion for 2013, representing a growth of 14.4
percent. Crude oil exports declined to US$1.6 billion from US$1.7 billion in 2013 on the back of lower production volumes which fell by 8 percent although prices inched up marginally by 1.3 percent.
Non-traditional export earnings, including timber and other miner als remained unchanged at US$1 billion. Total imports declined to US$6 billion for the period under review, down by 17.8 percent compared with US$7.3 billion in same period of 2013. This was attributed to a 19.7 percent year-on-year decline in Non-oil imports to US$4.6 billion while Oil imports fell by 11 percent to US$1.4 billion. The trade deficit therefore narrowed
significantly to US$156.6 million from January to May this year, compared with a deficit of US$990.8 million in the corresponding
period of 2013. Total remittances to individuals increased to US$692 million in January to May this year from US$652 million in the same period of 2013. Developments in the foreign exchange market indicated that the cedi cumulatively depreciated by 26.7 percent against the US dollar in the first half of 2014 compared with 3.4 percent depreciation same period last year. Gross International Reserves (GIR) at end-June 2014 was US$4.5 billion, corresponding to 2.5 months of import cover, compared with US$5.6 billion at end-December 2013. This development partly reflects the seasonality in foreign exchange flows during the year.
