According to the World Bank, Ghana‘s GDP will grow by 2.7% in 2023, less than the average for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is expected to grow by 3.6%.
However, it anticipates a 3.5% growth in the GDP in 2024, which is the same as what it predicted for 2022.
Ghana’s economy has been experiencing numerous setbacks, including rising public debt, high inflation (50.3% in November 2022), and a weakening currency (38.8% in 2022), which is why it is looking for an IMF-supported program. This, it was claimed, will continue to have an impact on private sector growth in 2022.
“New orders and output have been trending down for many months. Rising input costs, on the back of high fuel and raw material prices, compelled businesses to cut workers for the first time in about a year”, it explained.
So it comes as no surprise that the administration set a 2.8% growth rate goal for this year. Ghana was among the nearly 60% of nations whose development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has been revised downward by the World Bank.
It stated that the region’s economic growth will face a significant challenge as a result of this growth deceleration.
“Growth in SSA is expected at 3.6% in 2023 and 3.9% in 2024. Compared to the June [2022] forecast, growth was revised down for almost 60% of countries, including downward revisions for over 70% of metal exporters which are expected to be affected by the further easing of global metal prices. Even as cost of living pressures are anticipated to moderate, the negative impact of persistent poverty and food insecurity on growth, amplified by other vulnerabilities, such as unfavorable weather, high debt, policy uncertainty, and violence and conflict are anticipated to keep the pace of recoveries subdued in many countries,” the World bank said.
Senegal is expected to be the fastest-growing economy in Sub Saharan Africa in 2023, with a growth rate target of 7.1%.
According to figures from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the third quarter of 2021 saw the slowest economic growth in Ghana in the past two years.
The country’s GDP grew by 2.9% in the third quarter of 2022, according to the GSS. This is less than the GDP of 4.7% that was registered in the second quarter of 2022.