By Kofi Ahovi Provisional trade data from the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Ghana for the first five months of this year showed that the balance on the trade account narrowed significantly by US$729.4 million, from US$1,067.1 million to a deficit of US$337.7 million. The MPC data indicates that total merchandise exports improved by US$2.1 billion to US$5.3 billion and represented a growth of 66.2% over the same period in 2010. Cocoa beans and products amounted to US$1.3 billion. Gold exports receipts amounted to US$1.8 billion. By the end of the 2009/2010 main cocoa season, cumulative purchases was 587,166 tons compared to the crop size at the close of the 2008/2009 season of 634,256 tonnes. The robust growth in exports for the first five months of 2011, were mainly driven by oil, gold and cocoa beans. Exports of crude oil for the period amounted to 8.6 million barrels valued at US$954.6 million, while exports of gold and cocoa amounted to US$2 billion and US$1.4 billion res...