Ghana records 2021 GDP growth of 5.4% to beat forecasts

Latest figures on economic growth released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) indicate that the country’s economy in 2021 grew at the fastest rate in two years in the fourth quarter of the period.

The growth of the economy beat forecasts by the government and the International Monetary Fund after a better-than-expected fourth quarter growth.

According to Professor Samuel Kobina Anim, the Government Statistician, the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at 5.4 per cent last year, after expanding a revised 0.5 per cent in 2020, giving a clear indication that the country’s debt sustainability had, thus, stabilized between 2020 and 2021.

With a GDP growth rate of 5.4 per cent, the country’s debt to GDP ratio for 2021 is around 76.4 per cent.

The Ministry of Finance had projected 4.4 per cent GDP growth for 2012, while the Presidency had projected 5.3 per cent growth, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projection 4.2 per cent growth.

The Ghana Statistical Service revised growth in the third quarter of 2021 to 6.5 per cent from 6.6 per cent previously. It also revised that of the second quarter to 4.2 per cent from 3.9 per cent, and to 3.6 per cent from 3.1 per cent in the first quarter. It also revised the 2020 annual growth rate to 0.5 per cent from 0.4 per cent.

Growth triggers

Addressing journalists in Accra yesterday, the Government Statistician explained that the country’s GDP expanded seven per cent in the three months through December from a year earlier, compared with a revised 6.5 per cent growth in the prior three months.

The growth rate exceeded the four per cent median estimate of six economists in a Bloomberg survey. Growth in the fourth quarter was triggered by the agriculture and services industries.

“We’re seeing the agricultural sector and service sectors reaching peaks unseen since 2013,” Government Statistician Professor Samuel Kobina Annim said at yesterday’s news conference.

He added: “We’ve seen a reverse pattern for the industrial sector, which is at one of its lowest points since 2013, when we rebased our GDP.”