Gold, cocoa, oil exports earn Ghana $3.8b in 2012 – Bank of Ghana

Ghana earned $3.8 billion from merchandise exports, preliminary estimates of total exports for the first three months of 2012 by the Bank of Ghana shows.

The earnings represent a year-on-year growth of 22.8 per cent according to the central bank.

The Bank indicates that the growth in export earnings continues to be driven by gold, cocoa beans and crude oil.

“Exports of gold amounted to $1.5 billion, cocoa beans $939.8 million and crude oil $689.6 million. Other exports, including non-traditional exports, amounted to $675.2 million during the period,” says the governor of the Bank, Mr. Kwesi Amissah-Arthur.

Giving a breakdown, the Bank says, total non-oil imports amounted to $3.6 billion of which capital imports was $781.2 million, intermediate imports $1.7 billion, consumption imports $775.8 million and others US$251.8 million.

However, the Bank reports that total merchandise imports provisionally amounted to $4 billion in the first quarter of 2012, representing a year-on-year growth of 19.8 per cent. Oil imports, including crude, gas and refined products amounted to $457.2 million compared with $692.2 million for the same period of 2011, it adds.

“These developments in the merchandise trade resulted in a trade deficit of $202.1 million compared with a deficit of $246.1 million for the same period in 2011,” says Mr. Amissah-Arthur.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi