The pace of Ghana’s economic recovery gained much momentum in the first 9 months of the year as the country’s GDP growth averaged 4.5 percent between January and September this year.
The economy recorded its highest quarterly expansion so far this year in the third quarter with a growth rate of 6.6 percent, according to provisional data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, explained that the third quarter growth was the highest growth rate since the second quarter of 2019 which recorded a non-oil GDP growth rate of 7.5 percent.
The third quarter performance is a significant improvement over the 3.1 and 3.9 percent growth rates recorded in Q1 and Q2 2021 respectively. It is also higher than a contraction of 3.2 percent recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2020.
However, without oil, the economy grew at a rate of 8.6% in the first nine months of 2021. This is a significant increase from what was recorded the same period last year, which was a contraction, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The main sub-sectors that expanded in quarter three of 2021 are Education (24.2%), Health & Social Works (20.5%), Information & Communication (17.0%) as well as Professional Administrative & Support (16.7%). Others include: Hotel & Restaurants (16.4%), Public Administration & Defence, Social Security (16.3%), Fishing (14.3%), Real Estate (11.5%) and Crops (9.8%).
Sectoral growth rate
In terms of the three major sectors, the Services sector recorded the highest growth rate of 13.4%, followed by the Agriculture sector with 9.2%. The Industry, however, contracted by 2.0%, weighed down heavily by a contraction in the mining sub-sector.
Other sub-sectors within the industry, however, expanded in the third quarter. The expanding sub-sectors are Manufacturing (7.5%), Water supply, Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation Activities (6.7%), Electricity (5.1%) and Construction (1.7%).
sectoral shares
According to the data, the Services sector continued its dominance as the largest sector of the Ghanaian economy in the third quarter of 2021 with a share of 45% of GDP at basic prices. The GDP share of Industry and Agriculture were 31% and 24% respectively. The recent data show that agriculture sector’s contribution to the economy is gradually increasing whilst the industry shrinks.
Data for the first half of the year show that the average share of the Agriculture Sector increased from 19.1 percent in the first half of 2020 to 21.3 percent for the same period in 2021, while the Industry sector’s share decreased from 28.0 percent in the first half of 2020 to 26.7 percent in the corresponding period in 2021.
The GDP (Including Oil & Gas) estimate at constant 2013 prices for the 3rd quarter of 2021 was GH¢ 43.09 billion compared to GH¢ 40.440 billion in the 3rd quarter of 2020. The Non-oil GDP at constant 2013 prices for the 3rd quarter of 2021 was GH¢39.974 billion compared to GH¢36.82 billion in the 3rd quarter of 2020.
Should the current pace of recovery be sustained, the country may exceed its revised growth forecast of 4.4 percent in 2021.
READ ALSO: Societe Generale’s ‘Innovation Hub’ to Boost Its Performance on GSE- MD
