Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Annim, has cautioned against the projection of a negative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the country this year.
Some analysts following the announcement by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) that Ghana’s economy had gone into a recession on the back of contraction for two consecutive quarters, forecasted that the economy is going to record a negative growth for the last quarter of the year, thereby causing the economy to go into a full recession.
But reacting to the negative growth projections, Prof Annim speaking on Joy News’ PM Express and monitored by norvanreports, noted that analysts ought to be circumspect with their projections.
“If you look at it from a quarter-on-quarter basis, then yes the economy has contracted and we are in a recession, but if we want to declare 2021 as a year of recession then one has to be circumspect in doing that, because although two quarters out of three have recorded a contraction, one also has to take into consideration the absolute figures and how the different subsectors will particularly play out in the last quarter,” he stressed.
The economy, according to recent data from the GSS has contracted for two consecutive quarters indicating a recession.
The economy first contracted in the second quarter of this year by some 3.2 per cent following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
Following that, the economy although having shown signs of a rebound on the back of sound fiscal and monetary policies, contracted by 1.1 per cent in the third quarter of this year.
