Statistical Service to release first quarterly GDP estimates

Dr. Grace Bediako, Government Statistician

The Ghana Statistical Service will this Wednesday release figures on the performance of the economy for the first three months of this year.

Coming just a little over five months into the year, it marks a significant improvement over the half-year Gross Domestic Product estimate released last year and a departure from the days when annual estimates became available several months after the year had ended.

Government Statistician, Dr. Grace Bediako told Joy Business the objective is to help managers of the economy better track performance.

She said unlike social indicators, economic indicators change quickly, sometimes on a daily basis and “it is well known that when you don't have a good way of tracking your economy, you miss the (important) signals.”

The government statistician was determined to keep to best practices and release quarterly GDP figures.

She added that the estimates would be extremely useful to businesses as well.

Dr. Bediako maintained there were adequate measures to ensure the estimates are accurate.