2nd Quarter GDP Grows By 5.7%

Ghana's economy grew by 5.7 per cent year-on-year compared to the 5.4 per cent recorded in the same period last year.

According to the GSS, which released this Wednesday in Accra, the estimates were based on provisional data secured from all sectors of the economy.

Estimates

However, without oil, the GDP estimates for the second quarter, stood at 4.3 per cent and 5 per cent for the same period in 2018.

However, when it is seasonally adjusted, real GDP increased to 1.4 per cent from April to June this year.

According to the Ghana Statistical Service, the main growth drivers for the performance from April to June 2019 were information and communication, mining and quarrying, health and social work and real estate.

GDP Growth Contribution

The services sector recorded the highest growth of 6.5 per cent, industry followed with 6.1 per cent, while Agric posted a 3.1 per cent growth rate.

Under the services sector, information and communication sub-sector increased from 14.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2018 to 52 .8 per cent in the second quarter of 2019.

This was followed by real estate which recorded a 14.9 per cent jump in growth, recovering from its 0.8 per cent contraction in the second quarter in 2018.

Education had 8.9 per cent and hotel and restaurant had 6.6 per cent.

Finance and insurance which in the past had been the trailblazer of the sector however just recorded 1.4 per cent growth. However, public, administration and defense, social sector contracted by 2.8 per cent.

Industry

Its growth was propelled by mining and quarrying sub-sector, which slowed to 14.0 per cent in the second quarter of 2018, compared to 14.9 per cent recorded in 2019.

However, construction contracted or declined by 8.3 per cent, water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation were down by 7.9 per cent. Electricity also went down by 7.5 per cent.

Agric sector

Livestock's 5.7 growth pushed the overall growth of the agric sector, while crops increased by 4 per cent. However, forestry was down by 6.5 per cent, while fishing also declined by 2.1 per cent.

Services

The services sector remained the largest sector the Ghanaian economy, based on the second quarter estimates, with a share of 49.1 per cent.

This should mean that the country or economy can be described as services-led.

–Myjoyonline