Ghana: 5% GDP growth target for 2021 exceeded by 0.4%
The Ghanaian economy, according to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) expanded by 5.4 percentage points in 2021.
The recorded positive GDP growth, the Service notes, exceeded government’s 5% GDP growth target for 2021 by 0.4 percentage points.
It is also 5 percentage points higher than the 0.4% GDP growth recorded in 2020.
Per the new data released by the GSS, the strong growth rate was driven by the Services sector, particularly the Information, Communication and Technology (33.1%) and the Agriculture sector, such as Fishing (13.4%).
The Services sector recorded the highest GDP growth rate of 9.4% in 2021.
The Information & Communication sub-sector recorded the highest year-on-year GDP growth rate of 33.1% while the Education sub-sector recorded the lowest (-3.7%.).
Hotels and Restaurants as well as Financial and Insurance Activities grew by 4.3% and 2.4% respectively.
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The Agriculture sector grew at a rate of 8.4% in 2021. The Fishing sub-sector recorded the highest year-on-year growth rate of 13.4 %, while the Forestry and Logging sub-sector recorded the lowest (4.7%). Livestock and Crops recorded growth rates of 5.5% and 8.9%.
Industry however contracted by 0.8% for 2021. This was influenced by contraction in the Mining and Quarrying sub sector (12.1%)
The Water & Sewerage sub-sector recorded the highest year-on-year annual GDP growth rate of 13.3% for 2021.
Manufacturing, Electricity and Construction expanded by 7.8%, 7.4% and 5.7% respectively.
The year-on-year quarterly GDP growth rate for the 4th quarter of 2021 was however 7.0% compared to the 4.3% recorded for Q4 2020.
Given the 5.4% GDP growth recorded in 2021, the corresponding per capita GDP for 2021 is $2,565 with the size of the economy expanding to GHS 459 billion.
