ACCRA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Ghana’s economy remained robust in 2007 thanks to a bond issue and a 35 percent surge in gold exports which more than compensated for a slip in cocoa output from the previous year’s record, the central bank said.

Gold exports earned the West African country $1.73 billion in 2007, up from $1.28 billion the previous year, the central bank’s economic review committee said in a quarterly report, a summary of which was seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

“Generally, the economy recorded a 12.6 percent increase in total merchandise exports to $4.19 billion in 2007, compared to the previous year,” said the committee, which is headed by the Central Bank Governor Paul Acquah.

“Total trade with the outside world recorded a deficit of $3.88 billion, up from $3.03 billion in 2006,” it said.

Despite a widening current account deficit, Ghana’s overall balance of payments for 2007 nevertheless recorded a surplus of $413.1 million due to capital inflows, including proceeds from its $750 million debut international sovereign bond issue. The issue, which was four times oversubscribed, had helped boost Ghana’s gross international reserves to $2.8 billion, enough to cover slightly more than three months’ imports, the committee said.

Inward remittances from organisations and individuals reached $6.9 billion, 19.3 percent more than in 2006, it said.

Income and corporate tax collections grew by 22.4 percent in 2007, the report said.

The committee was upbeat about the economic outlook, saying Ghana’s economy remained “robust and resilient” despite rising crude oil prices that had pushed up domestic inflation.

Finance Minister Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu has blamed a spike in annual inflation to 12.7 percent in December on oil prices and Christmas shopping, but said inflation was projected to fall below 10 percent in 2008 and a 7 percent growth target was achievable in 2008.

Another cloud on the horizon was poor performance of the manufacturing sector, which the central bank committee said was still lagging behind other sectors of the economy, partly due to lack of credit available to operators.

The government signed an interim trade agreement with the European Union last month in a last-minute bid to avoid harming its goods exports to the world’s biggest trading bloc, whose trade preferences for poor countries expired on Dec. 31.

But under the new “economic partnership agreement”, Ghanaian manufacturers will gradually face more competition from Europe.

Last year was a jubilee year for the West African country as it celebrated 50 years of independence from Britain with the redenomination of its now stable cedi currency and the discovery of viable oil reserves off its Gulf of Guinea Atlantic coast.

That oil will likely not come on stream for two years.

But the find has cemented confidence as Ghana heads towards a presidential election in December, when President John Kufuor will stand down after serving the maximum two terms in office.