Quarterly release of GDP rate in March

Dr. Grace Bediako, Government Statistician, has disclosed that the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) will from this year release the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate quarterly to indicate the country’s economic direction.

The practice already exists in countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, China and South Africa.

The first announcement is expected at the end of March this year. It will enable stakeholders including economists, analysts, policymakers and the investing community to evaluate the performance of the economy to make future projections.

It will also make known the direction of the economy in terms of employment creation, number of investments, and growth of agriculture, industries and services.

“The Service will do its best to release the growth rate every three months,” Dr. Bediako explained to B&FT in Accra.

The country’s economy recorded a provisional growth rate of 4.7 percent last year, after it had recorded a remarkable 7.3 percent in 2008.

The 4.7 percent was based on the first quarter assessment by the GSS. It said the growth was driven by agriculture. The sector, which represents about 35 percent of the growth rate, grew beyond its target due to good rainfall patterns.

However, the rest of the sectors grew below their projected targets.

The manufacturing sector could not grow beyond its target because the Tema Oil Refinery, which constitutes one-sixth of the total output, was shut down for most of 2009.

The retail and wholesale trade sector also performed poorly because there was a squeeze in the economy.

From a GDP growth rate of 3.7percent in 2000, GDP shot up to 4.2 percent in 2001, 4.5percent in 2002 and 5.2 percent in 2003.

The country’s economy further grew by 5.6 percent and 5.9 percent respectively in 2004 and 2005. The years of sustained growth peaked at 6.4 percent in 2006, after which an energy crisis slowed the country’s growth rate to 6.3 percent in 2007.

Gold, timber, cocoa, diamond, bauxite, and manganese exports are Ghana’s major sources of foreign exchange.