Ghana�s total stock of public debt increased to GH�43.9 billion (49.5 percent of GDP) at the end of August 2013 from GH�35.1 billion in December 2012.
Dr. Kofi Wampah, Governor of Bank of Ghana (BoG), who made this known at the close of a Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Accra, said the increase in the external debt was mainly due to the sovereign bond issue.
He said Ghana�s external debt also has increased from US$8.8 billion in December 2012 to US$10.2 billion in the first eight months of the year.
�Of this, the domestic component amounted to GH�24 billion compared to GH�18.5 billion in December 2012�.
He said gross international reserves increased to US$5.8 billion (3.2 months of imports) August 2013 from a stock position of US$5.3 billion (3 months of import cover) at the end of December 2012.
Dr. Wampah said, �For the first half year of 2013, the balance of payments improved as it recorded a lower deficit of US$677.8 million compared with a deficit of nearly US$2 billion in the corresponding period of last year.�
This, he said, was largely due to increased net inflows into the financial account and a slight improvement in the deficit on the current account.
Dr. Wampah said the current account balance at the end of the first half of 2013 improved to a deficit of US$2.3 billion from a deficit of US$2.5 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2012.
�This was as a result of a slowdown in non-oil imports and an improvement in net outflows from the services, income and transfers account,� he said.
Dr Wampah said the capital and financial accounts on the other hand recorded a surplus of US$1.5 billion compared to a surplus of US$491.1 million in the corresponding period of 2012.
He said this development was largely driven by large net inflows of short-term capital that overcompensated for net outflows in direct and portfolio investments.
Dr Wampah said, �For the first eight months of the year, the value of merchandise exports were estimated at US$9.8 billion improving by 4.1 percent over the outturn for the same period last year.�
�As a result of a decline in international prices of the country�s major export commodities, earnings from gold fell by 12.6 percent to US$3.4 billion, while exports of cocoa beans also declined by 21.4 percent to US$1.4 billion. Oil exports, however, increased by 46.9 percent to US$2.8 billion as a result of increased production,� he added.
Dr Wampah said earnings from non-traditional exports, including cocoa products, went up by 22.2 percent to US$2.2 billion.
He said the trade balance for the first eight months of the year improved to a deficit of US$1.8 billion from a deficit of US$2.5billion in 2012.
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