The African Development Bank (AfDB) says Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth projection for Ghana and its fellow West African States for 2021 is 2.8 percent.
The projection by the African multilateral institution sharply contrasts that of government’s 5 percent GDP growth projection for 2021.
President Akufo-Addo delivering his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) in his second term, asserted that the Ghanaian economy is expected quickly rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic and grow at a rate of 5 per cent this year.
The president attributed the expected rebound and growth of the economy to the gradual pick up in economic activities which is to be further boosted by the Covid-19 vaccination exercise coupled with government’s implementation of some economic stimulating programmes such as the Ghs 100 billion Obaatanpa Ghana CARES Programme.
But according to the Bank, GDP growth for all West African countries is projected to be 2.8 percent for this year and further projected to increase to 3.8 percent in 2022 on the back of eased lockdowns and a rebound in commodity prices.
The projected positive GDP growth, AfDB notes follows the 1.5 percent contraction of GDP in 2020 partly due to the relatively limited spread of the virus in the region – In the case of Ghana, GDP contracted by more than 6 percent from a projected growth of 7 percent to 0.9 percent.
Adding many West African countries maintained positive growth for the period under review due to targeted and less restrictive lockdowns.
“Many West African countries maintained positive growth in 2020 thanks to more targeted and less restrictive lockdowns – including Benin (2.3 percent), Côte d’Ivoire (1.8 percent), and Niger (1.2 percent). Other countries such as Cabo Verde (–8.9 percent), Liberia (–3.1 percent), and Nigeria (–3 percent) were in recession in 2020,” stated the Bank’s 2021 African Economic Outlook Report.
Ghana’s economy for the second and third quarters of 2020 contracted by 3.2 percent and 1.1 percent respectively due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic – data on fourth-quarter growth is yet to be released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
Ghana’s 5 percent growth projection for the year is a little above the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Moody’s growth projection of 4 per cent.
The World Bank has however, projected the economy to grow by some 1.4 percent this year.
