Provisional data available from the Bank of Ghana, (BoG), shows that trade balance from January to December, 2018 recorded a surplus of US$1778.8 million translating into 2.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product, (GDP) compared with a surplus of US$1187.7 million recorded for the same period in 2017.
At the end of December, 2018, total value of merchandise exports was provisionally estimated at US$14868.1million, indicating an increase of US$1033.1 million compared with US$13835 million recorded for the same period in 2017.
The increase was attributable to improvement in export receipts from oil and non-traditional exports.
Gold exports decline slightly to US$5461.4 million from US$5786.2 million. Cocoa exports for the period also decline from US$2661.4 million to US$2091.6 million, however, oil exports increase to US$4573.4 million from US$3115.1 million.
Total value of merchandise imports for the period January to December 2018 was estimated at US$13089.3million, compared to US$12647.4million recorded in 2017. This was driven by increased demand for both oil and non-oil imports.
Total oil imports for the period increase slightly to US$13,089.3 million from US$12647.4 million during the same period in 2017. Total non-oil imports dropped to US$10551.6 from US$10655.2 million.
The current account balance as at December recorded a narrowed deficit of 3.2 per cent of GDP compared to a deficit of 3.4 percent of GDP for December, 2017.
