Ghana’s current account deficit is set to widen to 5.8 per cent this year, before narrowing slightly to 5.2 per cent in 2024.
This is higher than all forecasts by international research institutions.
According to the October 2022 World Bank Africa Pulse Report, the deterioration in the current account balance is consistent with the combination of skyrocketing import bills and the fall of the cedi.
Again, it said countries with the West Africa Monetary Union will experience an uptick in their deficit from 4.1 per cent in 2021 to 6.3 per cent in 2022, and back to 4.6per cent next year.
“Similarly, the current account deficit will widen for non-resource-rich countries due to rising import bills fuelled by soaring food and fuel prices, yet the size of the deficit is expected to narrow to 5 per cent in 2024, from 7 per cent in 2021. More than two-thirds of countries with double-digit current account deficits are non-resource-rich countries, and the remaining are mineral and metal resource-rich countries” it added.
Earlier in the year, Fitch Solutions said Ghana’s current account deficit would narrow to 2.8 per cent of Gross Domestic Product in 2022, from 3.2 per cent in 2021.
It, therefore, said this marked a revision from its previous 2022 projection of a deficit of 3.1 per cent of GDP, reflecting weaker-than-anticipated merchandise import growth of 7.7 per cent year-on-year over the first four months of 2022, while exports grew by 17.1 per cent.
BY TIMES REPOTER