Ghana records third consecutive trade surplus in Q2 2024

Ghana’s economy continued its positive trajectory in the second quarter of 2024, recording a trade surplus for the third consecutive quarter. 

This marks a turnaround from the deficit experienced in the same period last year.

The Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Anim, presenting a report on the Ghana Statistical Service Quarterly Newsletter on Trade Statistics: Ghana 2024 Second Quarter Export and Import Flows, Values and Price Changes today (September 24) in Accra said the total trade value in the second quarter of 2024 reached GH₵123.0 billion comprising GH₵64.2 billion in exports and GH₵58.8 billion in imports, with exports surpassing imports by GH₵5.4 billion.

This represents an increase from the GH₵3.1 billion trade deficit recorded in the second quarter of 2023 but a slowdown on the GH₵11.5 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2024.

Gold leads the way, cocoa slump continues

According to the report, gold remained the driving force behind Ghana’s export earnings, accounting for a substantial 57.6 percent of the total exports. 

However, the share of cocoa beans and products declined slightly during the quarter from 21 percent to 20 percent.

The report also indicated that the export value of cocoa beans declined from GH₵5.1 billion in the first quarter of 2024 to GH₵1.1 billion in the second quarter of 2024, a slowdown of GH₵4.0 billion of export value.

In percentage terms, for the fifth consecutive quarter there was a decline in the export value of cocoa beans with a decline of 26.9 percent being recorded in the quarter.

Major trading partners

Asia and Europe continued to be Ghana’s primary trading partners, with Asia maintaining its lead as the country’s top export destination. 

Notably, the share of imports from Europe has been decreasing, while imports from Asia have been steadily rising, indicating a significant shift in Ghana’s trading patterns.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) emerged as the leading destination for Ghana’s gold exports accounting for 39.9 percent of gold exports and, surpassing Switzerland (35.6 percent), South Africa (16.2 percent) and India (7.5 percent. The four countries accounted for nearly 99.2 percent of Ghana’s gold exports.

In terms of imports, China remained the primary source, contributing over a fifth of Ghana’s total imports. The UAE and the United Kingdom followed closely.

The GSS also highlighted price increases for both exports and imports during the quarter. Export prices surged by 40.5 percent year-on-year, primarily driven by the rising gold prices while import prices also increased by 18.9 percent.

Despite the substantial increase in nominal trade values, the real trade values (adjusted for price changes) have remained relatively stable over the past three years. 

"In the computation of nominal and real trade values, we have denominated it in Ghana cedis. The more than doubling of the nominal values were from 46.3billion Ghana cedis around the second quarter of 2021 to the current figure of 123 billion Ghana cedis, so we have adjusted for price changes from a cedi-denominated persepective," Prof. Anim said. 

Professor Anim also cautioned about how the figures in the report are interpreted.

He said the price of commodities in the report must be interpreted in conjunction with their prices in the international market at well as the production output from the country.

Highlights of Q2 2024 Trade Statistics

- In Q2 2024, the total trade value was 123.0 billion Ghana Cedis, comprising 64.2 billion in exports and 58.8 billion in imports, 

- Trade surplus was recorded for the third consecutive quarter although the value was more than halved from GHC11.5 billion to GHC5.4 billion between the first and second quarters of 2024

- The dominance of gold as the main export commodity has been further consolidated with an increase in its share of about 10.0 percentage points (from 47.5% to 57.6%) between Q2 2023 and Q2 2024.

- The export value of cocoa products decreased by about GHC4.0 billion between Q2 2024 and Q1 2024

- China remains Ghana’s main origin of imported commodities with dominance in five of the 10 product classifications

- United Arab Emirates surpasses Switzerland as Ghana’s main gold destination

- Year-on-year export and import prices changes for Q2 2024 were 40.5 percent and 18.9 percent respectively.

- Nominal trade values have more than doubled in the last three years, but real trade values have recorded marginal increases over the same period.