The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has revealed that Ghana’s economic growth slowed to 2.0% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2023.
It moved from 3.2% in the previous quarter, driven by a decline in the industrial sector, the GSS said on Wednesday.
Professor Samuel Kwabena Anim, a government statistician who disclosed this, said the factors that contributed to the third-quarter slowdown were contractions in sub-sectors of industry such as mining and construction.
Agriculture made a positive contribution, even though cocoa farming is having an unusually bad season, he noted.
This is lower than the pre-pandemic (COVID-19) average gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 5% and the 2.7% recorded during the same period in 2022.
For non-oil GDP, the economy grew at a rate of 2.1%.
The agriculture and services sectors expanded by 5.9% and 2.0%, respectively.
However, the industry contracted by 4.3%.
For the agriculture sector, all the sub-sectors expanded except forestry and logging, which contracted by 6.9%.
The crop sub-sector registered the highest growth rate of 7.0%.
All 10 sub-sectors in the services sector expanded.
The information and communication sub-sector registered the highest GDP growth rate of 17.3%. It was followed by accommodation and food service activities (11.2%).
Concerning industry, the construction (-8.3%), mining and quarrying (-8.1%), and electricity (-1.8%) sub-sectors contracted. Interestingly, the manufacturing sector grew at a rate of 2.1%.
In terms of the size of the economy, the services sector continued to remain the largest sector of the Ghanaian economy, with a share of 42.1%.
Industry and agriculture came in 2nd and 3rd, respectively, with shares of 33.0 and 24.9%.
The nominal GDP estimate at current prices in quarter 3, 2023, was estimated at ¢212.36 billion.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
