Ghana’s reserves to hit US$9.2bn

By Elorm Desewu

Ghana’s Gross International Reserves, (GIR), is expected to climb up to some US$9.2 billion, after the US$1.3 billion cocoa syndicated loan hits the central bank’s accounts.

This would support the country’s fait currency, the cedi during this year’s festive eve, as well as the balance of payment. 

The GIR increased by US$1.2 billion to US$8.2 billion equivalent to 4.1 months of import cover as at end August 2019 from US$7.0 billion equivalent to 3.6 months of import cover at the end of December 2018. 

The foreign exchange market has remained relatively calm. The Ghana Cedi cumulatively depreciated by 9.2 percent in the year to September 18, 2019, compared with 7.0 percent for the corresponding period of 2018.

Against the British pound and Euro, the Ghana cedi cumulatively depreciated by 6.9 percent and 6.1 percent respectively, compared with 4.2 percent and 4.9 percent depreciation over the corresponding period. In trade-weighted terms, the real effective exchange rate continued to be broadly aligned with the underlying fundamentals.

The country has recorded a trade surplus of US$2.644 billion representing 3.9 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to a surplus of US$1.395 billion  which was 2.1 percent of GDP same period last year.

The large increase in the trade surplus reflected a contraction of 8.6 percent year-on-year in the import bill due to benchmark valuation adjustments, while exports went up by 5.1 percent.