Ghana’s economy expanded by 4.7% year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, up from the 3.8% growth recorded in the same period last year, according to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
Significant activity in the mining and quarrying, information and communications, and agriculture sectors drove the increase in productivity during the first quarter of the year compared to the same period last year. Other contributors to the growth in total productivity, measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), included the construction and accommodation and food service sectors.
The provisional real quarterly GDP growth rate, including oil and gas, for the first quarter of 2024 was 4.7%, compared to 3.8% in the first quarter of 2023. Excluding oil and gas, the GDP growth rate for the first quarter of 2024 was 4.2%, slightly lower than the 4.4% recorded in the same period in 2023.
Announcing the 2024 first-quarter GDP figures in Accra yesterday, the Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, reported that the industrial sector recorded the highest growth at 6.8%, followed by the agricultural sector at 4.1%.
“The drivers of growth were the mining and quarrying sectors, which contributed 1.48%, followed by the information and communications sectors at 1.01%, and the crop sector at 0.74%. Other contributors included the construction sector, with a contribution of 0.51%, and the accommodation and food services sector, contributing 0.36% to the GDP in the first quarter of 2024,” he said.
The mining and quarrying sector grew by 3.0% in the first quarter of 2024, up from 2.2% in the fourth quarter of 2023. Construction activities grew at a rate of 2.2% in the first quarter of 2024, compared to a decline of 3.2% in the fourth quarter of last year.
Within the services sector, seven sub-sectors expanded while four contracted, resulting in an overall growth of 0.9% during the review period. The highest expansion was in the accommodation and food services sub-sector, which grew by 4.3% in the first quarter of 2024. Growth in the information and communications and finance and insurance activities was 4.2% and 1.7%, respectively. The least growth was observed in the health and social work sub-sector.
The GDP (including oil and gas) estimate at constant 2013 prices (real GDP) for the first quarter of 2024 was GH¢51 billion, compared to GH¢48.72 billion in the same period of 2023. The non-oil GDP at constant 2013 prices (real GDP) for the first quarter of 2024 was GH¢48.43 billion, compared to GH¢46.46 billion in the first quarter of last year.
The GDP estimate at current prices (what consumers pay at current value) for the first quarter of 2024 was GH¢266.68 billion, compared to GH¢212.07 billion for the same period in 2023. The non-oil GDP estimate at current prices for the first quarter of 2024 was GH¢256.16 billion, compared to GH¢202.96 billion.
Prof. Annim noted that the services sector continued to be the largest sector of the Ghanaian economy in the first quarter of 2024, with a share of 45.6% of GDP at basic prices. The industry and agriculture sectors’ shares of the GDP were 30.6% and 23.8%, respectively.
