Ghana’s economy grew by 8.5 percent in 2017

Ghana’s economy grew provisionally by 8.5 percent in 2017 compared to 3.7 percent recorded in 2016, the Ghana Statistical Service said on Wednesday.

Acting Government Statistician, Mr Baah Wadieh, who announced this, attributed the growth to increased oil and gas production. Oil production grew by 80.4 percent in 2017.

The Industry sector recorded the highest growth rate of 16.7 percent, followed by Agriculture 8.4 percent and the Services 4.3 percent sectors.

Services remained the largest sector but its share of GDP decreased from 56.8 percent in 2016 to 56.2 percent in 2017.

The sector's growth rate also decreased from 5.7 percent in 2016 to 4.3 percent in 2017.

However, two of the subsectors in the services sector recorded double-digit growth rates, including Information and Communication 13.2 percent and Health and Social Work 14.4 percent.

The Industry sector, the highest growing sector with a GDP share of 25.5 percent, had its growth rate increasing from -0.5 percent in 2016 to 16.7 percent in 2017.

Of all the industrial activities the Mining and Quarrying subsector recorded the highest growth of 46.7 percent in 2017.

The Agriculture sector expanded from a growth rate of 3.0 percent in 2016 to 8.4 percent in 2017. Its share of GDP, however, declined from 18.7 percent in 2016 to 18.3 percent in 2017. Crops remain the largest activity with a share of 14.2 percent of GDP.

The Non-Oil annual GDP growth rate decreased from 5.0 percent in 2016 to 4.9 percent in 2017. The 2017 Non-oil GDP for industry recorded a growth rate of 0.4 percent, compared with 4.9 percent in 2016.

Growth in the fourth quarter of 2017 reached 8.1 percent compared to 9.7 percent in the third quarter.