Ghana’s reserves dip to $6.1bn; import cover declines to 2.8 months
Ghana’s gross international reserves dipped to $6.19bn at the end of February 2024.
This is per the data contained in the Central Bank’s March 2024 Summary of Economic and Financial Data.
The country’s gross international reserves at the end of January 2024 stood at $6.31bn.
Gross international reserves are defined as the US dollar value of holdings of foreign exchange, special drawing rights, reserve position in the IMF, and gold at the end of a given period.
The shortfall in the country’s gross reserves amounts to some $117m with the current reserves providing Ghana with import cover of 2.8 months.
Ghana’s net International Reserves (reserve assets minus reserve liabilities) is, however, pegged at $3.53bn at the end of February 2024.
Meanwhile, Ghana’s trade surplus has narrowed by 54% from a year earlier to $392.8 million at the end of February 2024 on the back of a smaller cocoa harvest by the country which has hit Ghana’s external payments position.
Revenue from cocoa exports fell by almost a third to $508.4 million the BoG has noted.
New York cocoa futures prices have more than doubled this year to $8,939 a ton, spurred by a decline in production across the key growing region of West Africa.
Adverse weather, disease, and a shortage of fertilizer has curbed output, setting up the global market for a third straight year of cocoa bean shortages.
Ghana’s cocoa harvest in the 2023-2024 season which ends in September is expected to be 650,000 tons to 700,000 tons versus an initial forecast of 850,000 tons,
