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By Kodjo Adams, RNG
Accra July 16, GNA – A Regional Week
Course on Statistics of International Trade in Goods and Services (ITGS)
ongoing in Accra.
The program is organized by the West
African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), in collaboration with the Bank of Ghana.
It brought together 40 participants from
Ghana, The Gambia, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone to strengthen their capacity to
international trade in statistics.
The course would expand participants' abilities
knowledge of the establishment of ITGS accounts relating to the balance of
Payments according to the techniques provided in the 2014 BPM6 compilation
Guide and Handbook on Statistics of International Trade in Services 2010
Compliant Guide.
Dr. Ernest Addison, Governor of the Bank of
Ghana, in a speech read on its behalf at the opening ceremony, stated that the issue
of goods and services and its impact on economic development was a concern,
especially in developing countries, whose main resources were primary resources.
basic products.
He stated that the services sector, including the
transport, tourism and financial institutions seem to have grown in importance
and had contributed to the improvement of the economy of most of the ECOWAS countries.
The Governor stated that the contributions of these
economies were yet to be translated into strength as foreign trade was
concerned.
However, there is a lack of reliable data
services sector to allow a full badessment of potential impacts in order to inform
measures to maximize savings from exports.
The country's external performance for the
The first quarter of 2019 was marked by a positive outlook.
During the period, total goods
trade was provisionally estimated at a surplus of $ 899 million over
surplus of $ 724 million for the same period in 2018, which was attributable to
improved revenues mainly from crude oil exports.
In addition, there was a significant net
$ 3,068 million in the capital and financial account for the first quarter of
2019 compared to net outflows of $ 529 million for the same period in 2018.
Dr. Addison stated that the overall balance of
payments were provisionally estimated at a surplus of $ 3,135 million for the first quarter of 2019,
compared to a deficit of $ 672 million for the same period in 2018.
He said that for these commercial potentials to be
fully achieved, serious attention should be paid to the challenges of keeping
and maintain adequate and reliable statistics.
The governor said that it was waiting
that the participants make good use of the knowledge acquired and improve
development of trade statistics in their different countries.
Dr. Baba Y. Musa, Director General of WAIFEM,
The Institute was established in 1996 by the central banks of Ghana, the
The Gambia, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone to build capacity for
macroeconomics and financial management in member countries.
He said that WAIFEM had run 712 courses and
workshops, which benefited 19,026 participants from the subregion and beyond.
Course topics include an overview
goods and services account, transportation services, insurance and retirement
services, manufacturing and the treatment of goods in the balance of payments.
GNA
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