Ghana’s economy grew by 6.3 percent in 2018, witnessing a drop in growth when compared to the 8.1 percent recorded in 2017.
The total value of all goods and services produced in the country in 2018 also amounted to 154.5 billion cedis.
Per figures released by the Ghana Statistical Service, the industry subsector recorded the highest growth of 10.6 percent, followed by agriculture with 4.8 percent.
The services subsector recorded the least growth of 2.7 percent.
The 2018 GDP equally resulted in an increase in per capita GDP.
The figure increased from GH¢ 4,679 in 2013 to GH¢ 9,927.
But reacting to the actual impact of this on the livelihoods of the citizenry, Government Statistician Professor Samuel Annim said:
“This simply means that we have accounted for the population within the country…On the average, this is the annual amount but the distribution is another argument.
He added, “Statistically we can compute the average but that doesn’t mean there is an equal distributional effect in which case the poorest in the economy are going to benefit from the richest.”
Meanwhile for the last quarter of 2018 [October to December], Ghana’s economy grew by 6.8 percent.
This is an increase compared to the 5.5 percent recorded in the same period in 2017.
The Statistical Service attributed the rise to growth recorded in sectors like mining and quarrying, health and social work.
But a further analysis shows that the decline in oil and gas production led to a slow growth of 20 percent in the last quarter of 2018 compared to the same period the preceding year.
In addition, the informal sector’s share of the total value of goods and services between 2013 and 2018 increased from 36.1 billion to 42.6 billion cedis.
In 2018, the three key subsectors, that is services, agriculture and industry recorded growth rates of 10.6, 4.8 and 2.7 percent respectively.
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana