Provisional figures released by the Ghana Statistical Service show that the Ghanaian economy has contracted for the second straight quarter, with the value of goods and services produced in the 3rd quarter of 2020 declining by 1.1 percent when compared to the value of goods produced in the same period in 2019.
The contraction in economic growth by 1.1 percent in the third quarter of 2020 follows the 3.2 percent contraction recorded in the 2nd quarter of this year, which happened to be the first contraction recorded in Ghana in 37 years.
The decline in GDP growth follows the evaluation of the value of goods and service produced in Ghana from July to September at constant prices.
At current prices, the gross domestic product for the 3rd quarter of 2020 was valued at GHS92.2 billion, while for the same period in 2019, the value of goods at current prices was GHS85.5 billion representing an increase of 7.8 percent.
Government statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim at a press briefing highlighted the impact of the industry and services sectors subdued growth recorded in the 3rd quarter.
“From a sectorial point of view, we realized that, as against the agricultural sector that saw a significant growth of 8.3%, the other sectors i.e. the industry and services sectors contracted by 5.1% and 1.1% respectively. Indeed, the expansion that we saw in the agriculture sector which was mainly driven by crops was unable to offset the contraction that we saw in the industry and services sectors.”
GDP sectoral shares
The Services sector was the largest sector of the Ghanaian economy in the third quarter of 2020 with a share of 42 percent of GDP at basic prices.
The GDP share of Industry and Agriculture were 35 percent and 23 percent respectively.
Further breakdown
For the 3rd quarter of 2020, the quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted growth rates were as follows:
- In the Agriculture sector, the fishing sub-sector grew by 7.7 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2020, compared to 0.05 percent in the 2nd quarter of 2020. The Crop sub-sector also grew by 2.2 percent compared to 0.6 percent recorded in the 2nd quarter of 2020. The livestock sub-sector grew at a slightly lower rate of 1.1 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2020, compared to a growth of 1.2 percent in the 2nd quarter of 2020. The forestry and logging sub-sector contracted by 1.8 percent compared to a contraction of 2.1 percent in the 2nd quarter of 2020.
- Within the industry sector, the electricity sub-sector recorded 2.8 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2020, compared to 3.5 percent growth recorded in the 2nd quarter of 2020. Water supply, sewerage, waste management & remediation activities sub-sector grew by 1.4 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2020, compared to 2.4 percent in the 2nd quarter of 2020. Construction sub-sector grew by 1.0 percent in 3rd quarter of 2020, compared to 0.9 percent in the 2nd quarter of 2020. Manufacturing recovered from a contraction of -3.6 percent in the 2nd quarter of 2020 to record a 1.1 percent growth rate in the 3rd quarter of 2020. The mining and quarrying sub-sector contracted by -4.5 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2020, from -1.4 percent recorded in the 2nd quarter of 2020.
- In the services sector, information and communication sub-sector grew by 8.2 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2020 compared to 15.7 percent in the 2nd quarter of 2020. The real estate sub-sector also slowed to 3.2 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2020 from 0.8 percent recorded in the 2nd quarter of 2020. Compared to 2nd quarter of 2020, the public administration & defense, social security slowed down to a growth of 0.6 percent in 2020Q3. There were contractions in the sub-sectors of hotel and restaurants (-18.8) and trade, repair of vehicle, household goods (-2.0%).