Sectors & markets
Ghana’s economy records 8.5% growth in 2017
According to the Ghana Statistical Service, Ghana’s economy has recorded a growth of 8.5% in 2017 which represents twice the 3.7% figure recorded in 2016.
In monetary terms, the total value of all goods and services produced which includes oil has increased to GHS 56.3 billion for the 4th quarter of 2017 as compared to the 47.3 billion recorded in the same period in 2016.
According to the Deputy Government Statistician in charge of operations Anthony Amuzu to the media, the growth has been attributed to the growth recorded in the Mining and Quarrying subsector.
Speaking to the media, he explained that the provisional annual estimates which includes oil, grew by 8.5% with the non oil GDP growing at 4.9% as a result of the high oil production in 2017 following the coming on board of the TEN oil fields.
He elaborated that in the industry sector particularly with mining and quarrying which includes oil and gas, the activity contributed 46%, and in this oil contributed about 80%.
Data released also shows that in the Agriculture sector, the Crops sub sector grew by 3.5%, a figure which is higher than the 3.3% recorded in the 3rd quarter of 2017. The Livestock sub- sector grew by 1.7% in the 4th quarter of 2017 as opposed to the 1.3% growth recorded in the 3rd quarter of 2017. However, the Forestry and Logging sub sector recorded the least growth rate of 0.4% within the Agriculture sector.
In the industry sector, the Mining and Quarrying sub sector grew by 10.1% in the 4th quarter of 2017, compared to 9.8% in the 3rd quarter of 2017. The construction sub sector recorded a growth of 1.1% in the 4th quarter of 2017, compared to 1.7 percent growth recorded in the 3rd quarter of the same year.
The manufacturing sub sector recorded the least growth rate of 0.3% compared to 0.6% in the 3rd quarter of 2017 while in the Services sector, Health and Social Works grew by 5.2% compared to 7.4% growth rate recorded in the 3rd quarter of 2017.
The least growth rate of -1.1 percent was observed in the Public Administration, Defence and Social Security sub sector.
The growth which beats the target of 6.3% is the highest recorded in 6 years.
