The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) says that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have increased by 4.7% in the first quarter (January to March) of 2024.
This is a 3.5% increment compared to the fourth quarter (October to December 2023) last year, which grew by 1.2%.
The drivers of the growth in the first quarter of 2024, according to the GSS, were mining and quarrying, which contributed 12.9%; information and communication, 17.9%; crops, 4.3%; construction, 8.2%; and accommodation and food service activities, 9.4%.
However, the contracting sub-sectors in quarter 1 of 2024 were health and social work -8.8%, electricity -7.5%, public administration, defense and social security -5.3%, education -4.9%, other personal service activities -2.9%, and forestry & logging -1.2%.
On contributions by sectors, the services continued to be the largest sector of the Ghanaian economy in Q1 2024 with a share of 45.6% of GDP at basic prices.
The GDP share of industry and agriculture was 30.6% and 23.8%, respectively.
Compared to the same quarter last year, growth in agriculture was 4.1% in Q1 2024.
In the industry sector growth was 6.8% compared to Q1 2023, and in the services sector, growth was 3.3%.
Quarter-on-quarter growth was 1.1%, 1.8%, and 0.9%, respectively.
Within the Agriculture sector, crops grew the fastest both year-on-year (4.3%) and quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted (1.2%), compared to forestry & logging, which had a growth rate of -1.2 percent year-on-year and -0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted.
Crops account for 89.5% and 79.9% of Agriculture’s total nominal GDP and real GDP, respectively.
Within the Industry sector, mining & quarrying grew the fastest (12.9%) year-on-year and 3.0% quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted, compared to electricity, which had a growth rate of -7.5% year-on-year and -2.2% quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted.
Mining & quarrying account for 38.6% and 38.1% of the industry’s total nominal GDP and real GDP, respectively.
Within the Services sector, Information & Communication grew the fastest (17.9%) year-on-year and 4.2% quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted, compared to Health & Social Work, which had a growth rate of -8.8% year-on-year and -2.1% quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted.
Information & communication activities account for 7.7% and 14.9% of services’ total nominal and real GDP.
After defaulting on much of its overseas debt in 2022, the government secured a $3 billion loan programme with the IMF last year and, in January, reached a deal to restructure $5.4 billion of loans with its official creditors.