Retail sales up by 39.9% in first quarter

Retail sale went up from GH169.34 million in the first quarter of 2019 to GH236.85 million in the first quarter of 2020, representing an increase of 39.9 per cent.

This was due to an increase in household consumption in the first three months of 2020.

Also, as a result of the planned partial lockdown of some parts of the country to curb the spread of COVID-19 virus, individuals resorted to panic-buying in effort to stock-up their homes during the period.

This was disclosed by the Bank of Ghana in its Quarterly Bulletin report for the first quarter of 2020.

The report also indicated that real sector indicators recorded some improvements in economic activities within the first quarter of 2020 despite the negative effects of the COVID 19 pandemic.

“A review of selected indicators of economic activity revealed an improvement in the domestic economy during the first quarter of 2020, compared with trends observed during the first quarter of 2019,” the report indicated.

“Economic indicators such as consumer spending, vehicle registration and industry consumption of electricity went up but tourists’ arrivals and port activities declined during the review quarter mainly as a result of the closure of the borders and the lockdown,” the statement pointed out.

On the part of consumer spending, which was measured by domestic VAT collections and retail sales, also saw improvement in the first quarter of 2020, compared with figures recorded in the corresponding period of 2019.

“Domestic VAT collections grew by 4.5 per cent, year-on-year, to GH¢1,182.25 million relative to GH¢1,131.40 million collected during the same quarter in 2019. Domestic VAT collections, however, decreased by 28.6 per cent when compared with GH¢1,655.80 million collected for the fourth quarter of 2019,” the portion of the statement noted.

Ghana’s Real Sector

Ghana’s real sector comprises of households, non-financial organisations and Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households involved in the production and distribution of goods and services necessary to meet the consumption demand of an economy.

On manufacturing

However, manufacturing-related activity, as measured by trends in the collection of direct taxes (income, corporate and others) as well as private-sector workers’ contributions to the SSNIT Pension Scheme (Tier-1), posted mixed turnouts during the first quarter of 2020, compared with what was observed in the same period of 2019.

“Also, total direct taxes collected declined by 4.89 per cent (year-on-year) to GH¢4,113.91 million in the first quarter of 2020, relative to GH¢4,325.59 million recorded during the same quarter of 2019. Similarly, total direct tax collected for the quarter under review dropped by 50.8 per cent from GH¢8,357.44 million collected in the fourth quarter of 2019,” the statement added.