Ghana records Balance of Trade of over GHC4 bn; Gross International Reserve hits GHC55 bn
- Ghana's Balance of Trade has increased from $378 million in February 2019 to $780 million in February 2020
- This is as a result of a decline in imports as well as an increase in prices of traditional commodities like gold, oil and cocoa
- Its $10 billion Gross International Reserve as of February 2020 is also an increase from $6.3 million a year before
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Ghana recorded a surplus of $780 million in its Balance of Trade in February 2020, YEN.com.gh has learned.
This represents 1.1% of the total value of all goods and services produced in the country.
The current figure is an increase from the $378 million recorded in February 2019, which was 0.6% of the then Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
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The Bank of Ghana explained that the growth in the balance is the result of a decline in Ghana’s imports for the period under review.
Per a report by citibusinessnews.com, Ghana also enjoyed an upsurge in prices of commodities such as gold and cocoa.
In February 2020, Ghana earned $2.76 billion dollars from the export of cocoa, gold, oil and other traditional commodities, representing an increase from the $2.67 billion dollars recorded in 2019.
In February 2020, Ghana also spent $1.98 billion to import oil and non-oil commodities, and this was lesser than the $2.29 billion used in the same period a year ago.
Presently, Ghana’s Gross International Reserve, which is a measure of the country’s ability to afford, given that all top streams of income are not affected, stood at $10 billion in February 2020.
This can cover 4.8 months of import cover and represents an increase from the $6.3 billion recorded a year ago, and could cover 3.2 months of import cover.
In other news, commercial banks in Ghana ended the year 2019 with a cumulative profit after tax of GHC3.3 billion.
This represents a strong growth of 38% of the 2018 profit recorded, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) announced.
The central bank indicated that the increase in profit was a result of increases in both net interest income as well as fee and commission income surging past the increase in operating expenses.
The results led to increased profitability indicators such as the after-tax Return on Equity (ROE) and before-tax Return on Assets (ROA)
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Source: YEN.com.gh
