Ghana in 2023 recorded a trade surplus of GH¢5.3 billion, driven largely by gold exports, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) Trade Report has revealed.

This means that the country exported more products than it imported in the period under review.

The country in 2023 exported products valued at GH¢186.0 billion, compared with the GH¢180.7 billion worth of products it imported.

Similarly, the value of the country’s exports increased to GH¢186.0 billion in 2023 from GH¢143.8 billion in 2022, representing an increase of GH¢42.2 billion and a 30-percentage point increase over the 2022 value of exports relative to the total export value of 2022.

Speaking at the launch of the GSS Trade Report in Accra yesterday, the Government Statistician, Professor Samuel K. Annim, said the total value of trade for 2023 stood at GH¢366.6 billion, representing 43.6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

As part of the program, GSS also launched the first quarter 2024 quarterly trade newsletter and Export and Import Price Indices, which measure the relative price of exported and imported products over time and are used to deflate trade figures from nominal to real values.

Prof. Annim said gold was the main export product in 2023, bringing in revenue of GH¢84.4 billion, followed by cocoa beans and products (GH¢20.9 billion) and mineral fuels and oils (GH¢44.6 billion).

Switzerland, South Africa, India, and China, he said, were the top export destinations in 2023.

On imports, Prof. Annim said the main imported products in 2023 were mineral fuels and oils, and the share of mineral fuels and oils increased by 5.3 percentage points to 32.1 percent (GH¢58.0 billion) for imports in 2023, adding that the main sources of import were Asia and Europe.

“2023 saw a significant increase in trade with Asia. In a reversal from 2022, Asia’s share of imports, totaling 41.3 percent, surpassed Europe’s (37.3 percent), with China emerging as Ghana’s largest import partner at GH¢33.9 billion,” the Government Statistician stated.

Touching on the first quarter 2024 trade report, he said Ghana recorded a trade surplus of GH¢11.5 billion, with the value in the period under review at GH¢59.5 billion, while the value of imports stood at GH¢48.1 billion, adding that the trade surplus for the first quarter of 2024 was more than twice the value recorded for the same period last year at GH¢4.5 billion.

Prof. Annim, highlighting the Export and Import Price Indices, said the increase in the value of the country’s exports was due to price hikes rather than an increase in output.

The Senior Policy Advisor at the Office of the Vice President, Professor Kwaku Appiah-Adu, commended GSS for the report.

He said the Trade Report was crucial to inform policy decisions and national development planning and called for the integration of data from all government agencies.

The Head of Trade Statistics at the GSS, Mr. Dominic Odoom, said the GSS began the Trade Report in 2022 to provide data on the country’s exports and imports to inform national decision-making.

He said the source of information for the Trade Report was administrative data on exports and imports from the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).