A recent data released by the Bank of Ghana (BOG) on September 25, 2020 shows that the total value of the country’s export has declined significantly over the past one year.
According to the data, the total value of Ghana’s exports as at the end of August 2020, stood at USD 9,622.30 million, having decreased from USD 10,570.60 million in August 2019.
This means that in just one year, that is between August 2019 and August 2020, total value of the country’s exports has decreased by USD 948.30 million, representing a 9-percentage point contraction.
The Bank of Ghana attributed the recent decline in exports to the sharp decline in crude oil prices.
“The price movements, especially for crude oil, impacted adversely on the external sector. In the first eight months of the year, total exports contracted by 9 percent year-on-year … driven mainly by the sharp decline of US$1,142.5 million in crude oil export receipts due to the drop in prices”.
On month-on-month basis, total value of exports increased from USD 8,444.20 million in July 2020 to USD 9,622.30 million as at the end of August the same year. The implication is that, over the past one month, specifically in the month of August alone, the total value of exports in Ghana has increased by USD 1,178.10 million representing a 14-percentage point monthly growth rate.
The recent data pointed out that the three major export commodities in Ghana currently are Gold, Cocoa and Oil.
Gold exports increased from USD 4, 106.40 million in August last year to USD 4,332.50 million in August 2020, representing a year-on-year growth rate of 5.5 percent. This means that the total value of gold exports increased by USD 226.10 million in the past one year. However, on a month-on-month basis, value of gold exports increased by USD 625.50, representing a 17- percentage point expansion from USD 3,707.0 million in July 2020.
Similarly, the value of cocoa exports has also increased in the past one year to USD 1,719.10 million in August 2020 from USD 1,507.40 million in the corresponding month last year. The value of gold exports has therefore, increased by USD 211.70 million over the past one year, a 14-percentage point increment. A month-on-month analyses of the data shows that the value of cocoa exports increased by USD 76.4 million from USD 1,642.70 million in July this year. A growth rate of 5 percent.
Whereas the value of gold and cocoa have seen an expansion over the past one year, same cannot be said about crude oil. The total value of oil exports in August 2019 stood at USD 3, 073.10 million but it has decreased to USD 1,631.60 million in July 2020. Oil exports however, picked up in August 2020 having increased to USD 1,930.60. This shows a year-on-year decline of 37 percent and a month-on-month growth of 18 percent.
Total imports have also shown a general decline over the past one year. In August 2019, total imports amounted to USD 9,149.60 million. This has however declined to USD 7,341.70 million in July 2020 before increasing to USD 8,304.30 million in August this year. This represents a year-on-year decrease of 9.2 percent.
Of the current value of USD 8,304.30 million in August 2020, oil imports amounted to USD 1,236.40 million whilst non-oil imports were USD 7,067.90 million.
A total export value of USD 9,622.30 million as against a total import value of USD 8,304.30 resulted in a trade surplus of USD 1,318.0 million as at August 2020. This trade balance represents 2 percent of GDP according to the Bank of Ghana.
