Ghana’s economy has seen bountiful growth of 4.2% in the first quarter of 2023, compared to 3.1% in the same period in 2022.
According to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the data further revealed a positive development in the country’s real GDP, with a 1.1 per cent increase in the first quarter of 2023, surpassing the previous quarter’s record by 0.3%.
Government Statistician, Prof Samuel Kobina Annim, said that the services and agricultural sectors primarily propelled the growth.
He further highlighted the significance of specific sub-sectors within these sectors.
“Within the services sector, public administration played a significant role, while in agriculture, the livestock sub-sector demonstrated the highest growth rate of 6.6%. It is important to note that although livestock exhibited the highest growth rate, the agricultural sector’s overall growth was also influenced by the positive performance of crops, including cocoa, which holds the largest share,” he underscored.
Prof Annim emphasized the need to consider not only the main sectors but also the sub-sectors, such as public administration and livestock, as their contributions were instrumental in driving the overall growth rate.
The data shows that public administration, defence & social security (37.6%); health & social work (31.6%); education (26.0%) and information & communication (18.9%) drove the growth rate.
The services sector recorded the highest growth rate of 10.1%, followed by the agriculture sector with a growth rate of 4.8%.
Trade, repair of vehicle and household goods (-5.3%) and hotel & restaurants (-0.2%), however, contracted.
Fishing also contracted by 3.3%.
Except for electricity (3.5%), all the other four sub-sectors contracted within the industry sector.
Meanwhile, the services sector continued to remain the largest sector of the Ghanaian economy in the first quarter of 2023 with a share of 47%.
The growth has beaten most analysts’ forecasts of the economy for the first quarter of 2023.