Cocoa exports record growth
Dr Paul Acquah, Governor of BoG EXPORTS OF cocoa beans and products from Ghana amounted to US$553.3 million in the first quarter of 2009 compared to US$403.2 million for the same period in 2008, an increase of 37.2 percent.
The Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Ghana, which made this known at a meeting with journalists Tuesday in Accra, said exports of cocoa beans and products in the first quarter of 2008 comparatively registered an annual growth of 5.5 percent.
The Committee noted that cumulative cocoa purchases for the 2008/2009 main crop season as at May 1, 2009, amounted to 595,015 tonnes (against a forecast of 600,000 tonnes for the entire crop season) compared with 598,419 tonnes for the same period in the 2007/2008 season.
Dr Paul Acquah, Chairman of the Committee, delivering the findings, said gold exports for the first quarter was US$581.95 million compared with US$608.92 million over the corresponding period of 2008.
Non-traditional exports for the first quarter also amounted to US$241.28 million compared with US$150.75 million in the same period in 2008 and this represents a growth of 60.1 percent.
On the other hand, total merchandised imports for the first quarter of 2009 declined by 18.4 percent in year-on-year terms to US$2,017 million, compared with US$2473.86 million for the same period in 2008.
Non-oil imports amounted to US$1,771.61 million accounting for 88 percent of total imports during the first quarter.
This represented a decline of 3 percent over the same period in 2008. Capital and intermediate goods accounted for 69.6 percent of total non-oil import bill for the first quarter of 2009, compared with 65 percent for the same period in 2008.
Oil import bill for the first quarter was estimated at US$241.84 million, compared with US$643.86 million in the first quarter of 2008, a significant annual decline of 68.7 percent, reflecting 50.8 percent decline in price and 36.5 percent fall in volume.
This resulted in a decline in the merchandise trade deficit from US$1,158.99 million in the first quarter of 2008 to US$552.45 million in the first quarter of 2009.
The current account (including official transfers) recorded a deficit of US$271.16 million, compared with a deficit of US$714.78 million for the same period in 2008.
The overall balance recorded a deficit of US$404.27 million during the first quarter of 2009, compared with a deficit of US$261.90 million for the same period in 2008, and was financed wholly by a drawdown in reserves.
Private inward transfers received by NGOs, embassies, service providers, individuals, among others through the banks in the first three months of 2009 amounted to US$1.98 billion, representing a 7.3 percent decline from those for the same period in 2008.
Out of the total inward transfers in the first quarter of 2009, US$359.37 million (or 18.2 percent) accrued to individuals, compared with US$432.8 million (20.3 percent) in the first quarter of 2008.
On the foregoing, Dr Acquah stated: “The risks in the outlook is uncertainty associated with the potential second round impact of the global financial crisis, particularly, its effect on trade and capital flows necessary to support economic activity.”
By Samuel Boadi