International trade at Ghana’s two main harbours (Tema and Takoradi), as measured by laden container traffic for inbound and outbound containers, improved in the first half of 2024, according to the Bank of Ghana’s Monetary Policy Report of July 2024.

It said total container traffic increased by 9.4 per cent, year-on-year, to 59,639 in May 2024, up from 54,538 in May 2023.

In cumulative terms, total container traffic for the first five months of 2024 went up by 14.2 per cent to 284,745.

In other sectors of the economy, activities in the manufacturing sub-sector, gauged by trends in the collection of direct taxes and private sector workers’ contributions to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Pension Scheme (Tier-1), improved in May 2024.

Total direct taxes increased by 43.7 per cent (year-on-year) to GH¢4.11 billion in May 2024, relative to GH¢2.86 billion recorded in May 2023.

Cumulatively, total direct taxes collected for the first five months of 2024 went up by 31.6 per cent to GH¢22.19 billion, compared to ¢16.86 billion recorded in the first five months of 2023.

In terms of contributions of the various sub-tax categories, income tax (PAYE and self-employed) accounted for 48.8 per cent, corporate tax accounted for 38.4 per cent, while “other tax sources” contributed 12.8 per cent.

Total private sector workers’ contribution to the SSNIT Pension Scheme (Tier-1) increased by 39.6 per cent in year-on-year terms to GH¢470.92 million in May 2024, relative to GH¢337.23 million collected during the corresponding period in 2023.

Cumulatively, for the first five months of 2024, the contribution grew by 28.8 per cent to GH¢1.97 billion, relative to GH¢1.53 billion recorded in the same period in 2023.

Activity in the construction sub-sector, proxied by the volume of cement sales, increased by 10.6 per cent (year-on-year) to 235,050.55 tonnes in May 2024, up from 212,584.38 tonnes recorded a year ago.

On a month-on-month basis, total cement sales increased by 13.2 per cent in May 2024 compared with the 207,691.74 tonnes recorded in April 2024.

However, for the first five months of 2024, sales declined marginally by 2.3 per cent to 1,132,654.32 tonnes, from 1,158,854.69 tonnes for the same period of 2023.

The relative improvement in total cement sales, year-on-year, was due to an uptick in construction activities during the review period.

Transport sector activities, gauged by new vehicle registrations by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), increased year-on-year by 36.1 per cent to 16,220 in May 2024.

Cumulatively, the number of vehicles registered by the DVLA within the first five months of 2024 increased by 10.2 per cent to 83,878, from 76,115 recorded a year ago.

Industrial consumption of electricity declined marginally by 1.2 per cent in May 2024 to 295.71 gigawatts, as against 299.23 gigawatts recorded for the corresponding period in 2023.

In cumulative terms, electricity consumed by industries for the first five months of 2024 decreased by 7.0 per cent to 1,399.80 gigawatts, from 1,505.47 gigawatts for the corresponding period a year ago.

Passenger arrivals improved by 12.7 per cent in year-on-year terms to 98,205 in May 2024, up from 87,156 arrivals recorded a year ago.

Compared to April 2024, passenger arrivals went up by 8.1 per cent.

For the first five months of 2024, there were 497,048 arrivals recorded at the international airports and the land borders, compared with 419,206 for the corresponding period in 2023, representing a growth of 18.6 per cent.