Ghana spent nearly $350 million to import tissue papers in four years
Data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), a data visualization site for international trade has revealed that Ghana spent approximately $348 million to import toilet paper from 2017 to 2021.
The data further shows that the West African country’s average import bill on toilet paper stands at roughly $70 million annually.
The top imports of Ghana are Refined Petroleum ($1B), Cars ($629M), Rice ($552M), Delivery Trucks ($474M), and Coated Flat-Rolled Iron ($422M), importing mostly from China ($8.1B), India ($1.1B), Netherlands ($1.04B), United States ($949M), and United Arab Emirates ($826M). In 2021, Ghana was the world’s biggest importer of Used Clothing ($214M).
According to the EOC website, the top exports of Ghana are Gold ($5.29B), Crude Petroleum ($3.57B), Cocoa Beans ($1.51B), Cocoa Paste ($477M), and Coconuts, Brazil Nuts, and Cashews ($477M), exporting mostly to Switzerland ($2.44B), United Arab Emirates ($1.73B), United States ($1.56B), India ($1.53B), and China ($1.27B).
Ghana is facing its worst economic downturn in decades. In 2023, Accra secured a bailout program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) worth $3 billion as part of efforts to ease the raging economic troubles.
The Ghanaian authorities recently announced that the country expects to receive $1.15 billion in funding from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank by the end of February as bilateral creditors near agreement on the terms of a debt restructuring.
The agreement will enable the IMF executive board to meet to review Ghana’s performance under a programme that started in May 2023 and to approve a disbursement of $600 million, the second tranche of its $3 billion bailout, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said.
