The Bank of Ghana has said it will support the development of the non-traditional export sector to improve the country’s foreign reserves.
Speaking at the Public Accounts Committee sitting on Tuesday 26 April, a Deputy Governor of the central bank, Johnson Asiamah, said: “How do we increase export – the non-traditional export sector? There is a lot we can do there. We mentioned the issues of gold and other materials. We are monitoring very well and we see that monitoring alone has increased the export figures for gold and other commodities and so we will continue to do our part.
“We’ll continue to maintain an appropriate policy stance and by that I mean the kind of policy stance that will support exports. Going forward, however, we have to continue seeing how we can develop the non-traditional export sector and that is to do with anything apart from the three commodities that we currently export. If there is a way we can increase these. If we can trade more, the external sector can be even more viable, and any country where the external sector is viable, that country flourishes.”
Mr Asiamah further noted that the central bank will continue with the effective economic policies it undertook in ensuring improvement in the country’s balance of trade for the first quarter of this year.
According to him, Ghana’s total balance of trade for February 2017 recorded a surplus of $573million, equivalent to 1.3 per cent of Gross Domestic Product for the period.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
