The report that Ghana in 2023 recorded a trade surplus of GH¢5.3 billion driven largely by gold exports is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that Ghana in 2023 recorded a trade surplus of GH¢5.3 billion driven largely by gold exports, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) Trade Report, has revealed.
This means that the country exported more products than it imported in the period under review.
The country in 2023 exported products to the value of GH¢186.0 billion, compared with the GH¢180.7 million worth of products it imported.
Similarly, the value of the country’s exports increased to GH¢186.0 billion in 2023 from GH¢143.8 billion in 2022 and this represents an increase of GH¢42.2 billion and a 30-percentage points increase over the 2023 value of exports relative to the total export value of 2022.
Speaking at the launch of the GSS Trade Report in Accra yesterday, the Government Statistician, Professor Samuel K. Annim, said the total value of trade for 2023 stood at GH¢366.6 billion representing 43.6 per cent Gross Domestic Product.
As part of the programme, GSS also launched the first quarter 2024 quarterly trade newsletter and Export and Import Price Indices, which measure the relative price of exported and imported products over time, and are used to deflate trade figures from nominal to real values.
Prof. Annim said gold was the main export product in 2023 bringing revenue of GH¢84.4 billion, followed by cocoa bean and products (GH¢20.9 billion) and mineral fuels and oils (GH¢44.6 billion).
Switzerland, South Africa, India and China, he said, were the top exports destinations in 2023.
The newspaper says that Ghana will become the first country in Africa to have a Small Modular Reactor (SMR) by January 2025 with the signing of two Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) between it and United States of America.
The MoU, which seeks to ensure Ghana’s safe and secure use of nuclear power, was signed in Accra yesterday at the third edition of Africa Nuclear Business Platform, and attended by Senior Presidential Advisor, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, U.S Charge d’Affaires, Rolf Olson, and a number of countries from Africa, Europe, America, and Asia.
The two agreements were Memorandum of Understanding and Contractual Arrangements for the provision of the NuScale Energy Exploration (E2) Centre and relate services at Ghana Atomic Energy Commission and Memorandum of Understanding for a Regional Welding Certification Programme.
Professor Samuel B. Dampare, Director of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, initialed for Ghana while a technical representative from the Department of States signed for the United States.
In her remarks, U.S Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation, Ann Ganzer, said the U.S was committed to enabling the use of innovative clean energy technologies to enhance global access to zero emission, reliable power to support sustainability, energy security and climate goals.
She said that Ghana, represented by Nuclear was working on a cooperation agreement with the project developer, Regnum Technology Group LLC, to develop an industrial enclave utilizing NuScale SMR nuclear power plant as its main source of energy.
Prof. Dampare said the SMR simulator would support nuclear education, stakeholder engagement, and provide hands-on training facility to develop and train the next generation nuclear operators and engineers.
He noted that the regional welding training centre would provide essential training in nuclear welding certification at international standards that enable young Ghanaians and other Africans qualify for jobs in the nuclear energy sector.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has said that the government has allocated more than GH¢700 million for book and research allowances for lecturers in tertiary educational institutions,
He explained that the substantial financial support provided since 2020 was to ensure that academic researchers were provided with essential resources for their research activities.
The President said this at the opening of the Third Biennial Applied Research Conference of Technical Universities in Ghana (ARCTUG, 2024) in Sunyani yesterday.
“Indeed, the Akufo-Addo government places importance on the payment of research and book allowances to academia, recognising the critical role educators and researchers play in national development,” he said.
The theme for the conference is: “University, Industry, and Government Partnership for Accelerating Innovation and Entrepreneurship for National Development”. It is under the auspices of the Vice-Chancellors of Technical Universities of Ghana (VC-TUG) and assembled relevant researchers from academia and industry across Ghana, Africa and the international community.
The participants are expected to come up with innovations, inventions and creativity as well as explore the world from different perspectives for the development of the country.
President Akufo-Addo inspected an exhibition of innovations and inventions by the 10 technical universities.
President Akufo-Addo said the substantial financial support extended to lecturers across the country was evidence of his commitment to encouraging research. “These investments underscore my government’s dedication to enriching the quality of education and elevating research excellence in Ghana,” he said.
The newspaper says that the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has pledged to initiate a feasibility study for constructing a new city outside Accra to ease the capital’s growing congestion.
Speaking at an interaction with the European Union Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, Mr. Mahama outlined his vision for a new growth pole that would create thousands of jobs both during the construction phase and after completion.
While Accra will remain the capital, Mahama mentioned the need to decongest the city by relocating some government ministries, departments, agencies, and financial institutions to the proposed new city.
“We will start a feasibility study with a plan to build a new city,” Mr. Mahama said. ” Accra is getting grid-locked, the time has come for us to move some parts of the government services out of Accra.
Mahama envisages the future city spanning three regions—Greater Accra, Eastern, and Volta—and located near the Volta Lake. “Accra will continue to be the capital, but we will move part of it outside. There is land on the Accra Plains and there is land on the other bank of the Volta Lake and all that,” he added.
“Already, we are going to have a port terminal at Mpakadan to move cargo to the northern part of the country,” he noted. “There is a lot of land there, and we can move some of the ministries, agencies, and departments out of the city to decongest Accra.”
Mr. Mahama also acknowledged that the project would be a long-term project spanning 20 years.
“Because, Accra has expanded to its limits, the way it is going if we are not careful it will be difficult to continue to manage it as a viable city and so we will start the plan, and the design design and the feasibility. I believe that this will be a project that will take 20 years to fulfill but we need to start somewhere and so we will start and others will come to continue from where we leave off”.
GIK/APA