BoG’s CIEA posts 33.1% annual growth at end-May 2021
The updated Composite Index of Economic Activity (CIEA) of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) as at the end of May 2021 recorded a 33.1 percent growth year on year.
The recorded CIEA is however, a contraction from the 39.4 percent CIEA recorded the previous month – April 2021 – which may be attributable to rising cases of the Covid virus within the period which affected both consumer and business sentiments.
The recorded CIEA when however, compared to that recorded at end-March 2021 – end of first quarter – represents an increase of 6.3 percentage points.
According to the BoG, a sharp pickup in economic activities in the second quarter accounted for the growth in the CIEA compared to that of the first quarter.
Related Story: BoG’s CIEA records 26.8% YoY growth in 2021
“Beyond the first quarter GDP outturn, high frequency economic indicators for the second quarter of the year point to a sharp pickup in economic activity relative to last year. The sharp increase broadly reflects some base-drift effects as well as improvement in industrial production activities, domestic consumption, pick up in import activities, steady rise in construction activities and a rise in air-passenger arrivals, during the period,” the Governor noted.
The Bank however, notes that despite the recorded growth in its CIEA, its latest confidence survey reflects mixed consumer and business sentiments.
“The latest confidence surveys by the Bank of Ghana reflected mixed sentiments. Consumer sentiments softened on the back of a variety of factors including the
implementation of the recently announced revenue measures contained in the 2021 Budget, while business sentiments remained somewhat broadly unchanged due to
expectations of improvement in company growth prospects,” remarked Dr Ernest Addison.
The BoG’s CIEA measures changes in the level of economic activity.
