IMF revises Ghana’s GDP growth rate

 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised Ghana’s economic growth for this year to 7.5 percent from 8.8 percent the Fund projected earlier.

The IMF says the basis for the revision was due to the expected reduction in crude oil production as well as oil prices declining on the international market. It also cited the reduction in cocoa production from 900,000 metric tons to 800,000 metric tons for the 2018/2019 crop season by COCOBOD.

But the current economic growth projection by the IMF is slightly higher than what the government has forecasted for the end of this year. The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori -Atta in the 2019 supplementary budget projected an end year growth rate of 7.1 per cent.

According to the half-year GDP estimates released by the Ghana Statistical Service growth ending June 2019, growth stood at 5.7 per cent, compared to the 5.4 per cent recorded for June 2018.

From the data, it was clear that month-on-month growth has slowed slightly, due to developments in the oil sector.

The IMF in April this year projected an 8.8 per cent growth rate for Ghana. The Britton Woods institution was then basing its forecast on expected pick up in commodity prices, oil as well as some policy response measures that the government is expected to implement this year.