The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has announced a 4.7% growth in GDP from January – March 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. The GDP also grew by 1.2% when compared to the the fourth quarter of 2023. Non-oil GDP growth for the quarter was 4.2% compared to 4.4% in Q1 2023.

The sub-sectors that recorded a year-on-year growth were Mining & Quarrying (12.9%), Information & Communication (17.9%), Crops (4.3%), Construction (8.2%) and Accommodation and Food Service Activities (9.4%). However, some sub-sectors recorded negative growth when compared to Q1 2023 and these are 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%).

The Agriculture sector grew by 4.1%, Industry by 6.8%, and Services by 3.3%. In terms of sectorial distribution the Services sector dropped to 45.6% of GDP compared to 46.6% in Q1 2023; the Agricultural sector rose to 23.8% compared to 22.%; and Industry fell to 30.6% compared to 31.1%.

The growth figures would be welcome by Ghana’s commercial creditors who are seeking to include a value recovery instrument in the restructuring deal as they want a guarantee that they will be paid at a faster rate should Ghana’s economy grow faster than projected. The IMF is reported to be opposed to such a clause.