Economy records 7.2% growth in third quarter of 2024

Ghana’s economy grew by 7.2 percent in the third quarter of 2024, marking a significant recovery compared to the 2.2 percent growth recorded during the same period in 2023, according to data released today by the Ghana Statistical Service.

The growth is the strongest since pre-pandemic levels, with the last comparable performance being a 9.1 percent expansion in the second quarter of 2019.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the country’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 1.7 percent in Q3 2024 compared to the second quarter, slightly higher than the 1.6 percent recorded in Q2 2024. 

Key sectors underpinning this impressive growth included mining and quarrying, information and communication, crops, construction, and manufacturing. These industries collectively drove the economy forward, reflecting a diverse range of contributions to the nation’s economic output. 

However, not all sectors performed positively. Fishing, water and sewerage, and other personal service activities were among the subsectors that contracted during the period, indicating lingering challenges in these areas.

The provisional quarterly real GDP growth rate, inclusive of oil and gas, stood at 7.2 percent year-on-year. Excluding oil and gas, non-oil GDP growth was even higher at 7.7 percent, up from 2.4 percent in the corresponding period of 2023.

Among the main contributors to this impressive performance were the mining and quarrying, information and communication, crops, construction, and manufacturing sectors.

However, challenges persisted in some subsectors, notably Fishing, Water and Sewerage, and Other Personal Service Activities, which recorded contractions.

The services sector remained the largest contributor to the economy, accounting for 42.9 percent of GDP at basic prices, followed by industry at 32.6 percent and agriculture at 24.5 percent.

Real GDP growth within the industry sector was the highest, at 10.4 percent year-on-year, compared to 6.4 percent in services and 3.2 percent in agriculture. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, Industry recorded the strongest growth at 2.5 percent, followed by Services at 1.5 percent and Agriculture at 0.7 percent.

In terms of contributions to year-on-year real GDP growth, the industry sector led with 3.4 percentage points, services contributed 2.8 percentage points, and agriculture added 0.6 percentage points.

Commenting on the significance of the current GDP figures, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, the Government Statistician, highlighted the importance of sustained growth over isolated spikes. He stated: 

“The communication around economic indicators and how to pay back day-to-day activities should always be underscored by a sustained change in economic indicators.

It would always be erroneous if we take a one-off jump or slowdown in an economic indicator to say that we want to see an immediate impact on the lives of the day-to-day activities.

So this growth rate that we are seeing—its impact on day-to-day activities in terms of how earnings will go up, how employment will change, and all that—will be better felt if this 7.2 percent is sustained over a longer period of time.”

Professor Annim also emphasised the uneven employment implications of the growth, given that the leading contributors, such as mining and quarrying, information and communication, and manufacturing, vary in their labour absorption capacity.

He noted: “The mining and quarrying subsector was the major driver for the 7.2 percent growth rate that we saw in the third quarter of 2024. The mining and quarrying subsector grew by 7.1 percent. So for us to be thinking about the employment effect of the growth rate, the first question will be, How many people are being absorbed by the mining and quarrying subsector?”

Source: Graphic Online