Ghana’s main exports commodities, gold and cocoa, recorded lower earnings in the first ten months of 2013 mainly due to a decline in their prices on the world market.

Ghana is world’s second largest cocoa producer and Africa’s number two gold producer.

The Bank of Ghana said in a monetary policy committee statement that earnings from gold fell by 12 percent to $4.2 billion, while exports of cocoa beans also declined by 34 percent to $1.3 billion, Ghana Business News reported.

The central bank noted that the decline in prices of the two commodities on the world market partly contributed to the low earnings.

Overspending in Ghana has cast a shadow over the country’s reputation as a stable democracy enjoying robust economic growth largely due to its gold, cocoa and oil exports.

The central bank said Oil exports, however, increased by 31 percent to $3.2 billion, as a result of increased production. This helped the value of merchandise exports during the ten-month period to remain broadly unchanged at $11.4 billion compared to the same period in 2012.

On the other hand, the country imported $14.7 billion value of goods during the period. The trade deficit for the period therefore remained unchanged at $3.4 billion.

Fitch downgraded Ghana’s sovereign rating in October to B from B+ over concerns about the deficit and current account deficit.