COVID-19 exposes fragility of Ghana's economy
Adnan Adams Mohammed
Ghana’s economy contracted for the first time in almost four
decades in the second quarter, by an annual 3.2%, as coronavirus restrictions
stalled economic and social activities in the part of the year.
“Even after the restrictions have been lifted, many
businesses across sectors have continued to close down,” Prof Samuel Kobina
Annim, Government Statistician said.
“For the first time in 37 years, Ghana’s economy has seen a
contraction of 3.2%, compared with a growth rate of 5.7% in the same quarter in
2019.”
The fall in output was mostly felt in manufacturing and in
the services sector, where hotels and restaurants were shuttered to stop the
virus spreading.
Ghana’s finance minister has said in July that the economy
was expected to grow at its slowest rate in 40 years, at around 0.9% this year
compared with a previous forecast of 6.8%.
The financial services sector, according to the statistical
service, grew at 3.9 percent in the second quarter of this year, among a number
of sectors that escaped the contraction caused by the coronavirus.
“Ghana had just emerged from fiscal and financial sector
reforms, with the growth momentum already strong around its potential levels.
Consequently, while the contraction was expected, the fiscal and financial
sector reforms had already strenghtened Ghana’s capacity to withstand shocks,”
Mr. Martey noted.
“Also, the swift decision by the Bank of Ghana to provide
strong liquidity support to the financial system to mitigate a total collapse
in private sector demand may have played a part. And since private sector
demand would take time to recover, the government’s fiscal stimulus, as the
bigger spender in the economy, was crucial to provide a backstop for aggregate
demand.”
Other factors
The biggest slump in the second quarter GDP data occurred in
the hospitality sub-sector, which fell by more than 79 percent year-on-year.
This was followed by the trade, repair of vehicles, and household goods
sub-sector, which saw a 20.2 percent contraction.
Despite the overall contraction in GDP growth, Mr. Martey
explained that government’s decision to ease restrictions earlier, compared to
most African countries, may have prevented further damage.
“This enabled a quicker restart of the economy and partly
explains Ghana’s relatively modest contraction, compared to its peers. This
also set up the economy to avoid a recession when the third-quarter numbers are
published, because we expect a marginally positive growth rate for the third
quarter of 2020,” he added.
Mr. Martey said government’s projection of achieving 0.9
percent GDP growth in 2020 appears more feasible now considering that the
economy showed signs of a rebound in the latter part of the second quarter.
“If we consider the GSS data that proved that the economy
had started showing signs of restarting from late Q2-2020, then there’s a
reason to be hopeful for the 2H-2020.
For growth to fall short of the 0.9 percent projection for
end-2020, we would have to grow by less than 1 percent on average in the second
half of 2020.
“But I feel strongly that we have the potential to recover
growth to 1 percent or more. Public expenditure in the lead up to the December
2020 elections should also provide another extraordinary lift to aggregate
demand.”
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