TITLE:
Balance of Payments (BoPs) and Inward Remittances Compilation and Analysis Issues: The Case of Ghana from 2016-2022
AUTHORS:
Richmond Akwasi Atuahene
KEYWORDS:
Inward Remittances, Balance of Payments, Ghana, World Bank
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.12 No.2,
February
28,
2024
ABSTRACT: Global remittance flows have increased rapidly in
recent years and are considered by previous governments in Ghana as being of
high policy interest particularly in analyzing their impact on economic
development and security. Remittances have grown remarkably during the last two
decades, constituting a large source of foreign exchange flows to developing
countries. This in turn has excited considerable interest among economists and
policymakers seeking to have a clear understanding of the role and importance
of remittances. However, to understand fully the impact of these flows, it is
important to measure them accurately. Bank of Ghana’s Balance of Payments (BOP)
has not fully captured the volumes of these flows, evidenced in its current
estimation method. Compilation of remittance aggregates had been a very tricky
job because no single data item in the balance of payments framework
comprehensively captures transactions in remittances. This article intends to
take a critical look at some of the issues in compilation and analysis of
remittances in the World Bank and Bank of Ghana data for the period 2016-2022.
In the process of content analysis, secondary data was used through sources
which include text books, journal articles, reports, internet and more
importantly, from the library and the websites of Bank of Ghana (BoG); World Bank and Auditor General statement on
Bank of Ghana Foreign Exchange Receipts. The findings of the paper revealed
that for the seven years BOP data presented, showed that inward remittances
have increasing considerably despite the issues that arise from compilation and
analysis of remittances, including difficulty in obtaining migration and other
statistics, identification of transaction channels, and disparities between the
World Bank and Bank of Ghana data on inward remittances.