Ghana’s GDP projected to cross the GHS 1 trillion mark in 2024 – Finance Minister
Ghana’s gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to cross the GHS 1 trillion mark in 2024.
The projection is according to the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta during his presentation of the 2024 budget statement on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, November 15, 2023.
The projected GHS 1 trillion nominal growth in GDP for 2024 marks a significant growth from the 2016 nominal GDP value of GHS 219.5bn, indicating some GHS 780.5bn increase in nominal GDP over the last seven years.
In percentage terms, the nominal growth represents a 355% growth in GDP over the past seven years.
“Mr. Speaker, the 2024 Budget is even more significant because we will cross the GH¢1 trillion Gross Domestic Product (GDP) mark for the first time in our economic history. Let me repeat, Mr. Speaker, Ghana’s economy under President Akufo-Addo’s final year in office is projected to be valued over GH¢1 trillion in 2024 from the GH¢219.5 billion in 2016,” remarked the Finance Minister.
“Mr. Speaker, with such a milestone ahead of us, Government is protecting, at all cost, the foundation for sustained economic expansion. A foundation that has been achieved through the sweat and patience of the Ghanaian people. We pledge to protect this for all our people and especially for private sector growth. And we shall do so by ensuring that the enabling factors are in place and accessible to all. These will include reliable energy supply, stable Cedi, lower inflation and lower interest rate regimes, access to private sector credit, infrastructure provision, food security, national security, and inter-continental market linkages through increasing active platforms such as the AfCFTA,” he added.
GDP is a measure of the value of the total production of a country in a given year.
Speaking further on the floor of Parliament and addressing criticisms from economic experts regarding the economy turning the corner this year, the Minister noted that the economy turned the corner when, “inflation started declining from 54.1 percent in December 2022 to 35.2 percent in October 2023; when, despite a 1.5 percent projected growth, the economy galloped at a remarkable pace, and clocked an average of 3.2 percent growth in the first two quarters of the year,” he stated.
“When the currency, which had been under severe pressure over the past two years, depreciated by a modest 6.4 percent cumulatively from February to date, compared to 53.9 percent over the same period in 2022; when the Banking industry started to record and report a profit-after-tax growth of 43.8 percent (GH¢6.2 billion); when in record time we completed the IMF 1st Staff Review of 6 Performance Criteria, 3 Indicative Targets and 3 Structural Benchmarks,” he added.
