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Data from the Bank of Ghana’s latest Summary of Economic and Financial Data reveal a worrying drop in export revenues, with cocoa earnings between January and August 2024 falling to $917 million, the lowest since 2018.

This marks a sharp shortfall from the $1.6 billion earned during the same period last year—a $683 million gap that could severely impact the government’s efforts to stabilize the cedi.

The decline extends a downward trend that has plagued the cocoa sector since its peak in 2021, when Ghana’s cocoa exports reached $2.1 billion. Revenues have dropped steadily, falling to $1.61 billion in 2022 and $1.6 billion in 2023.

This year’s plunge marks the first time in six years that earnings have slipped below the billion-dollar threshold.

Ghana’s COCOBOD has also announced plans to gradually phase out reliance on the Cocoa Syndicated Loan, which has traditionally been a vital financial cushion for the sector.

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