Ghana’s economy shrinks 3.2% in the second quarter due to coronavirus

Business News for Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Source: GNA

2020-09-16

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Ghana’s annual economic growth rate contracted by 3.2% in the second quarter of 2020 compared to 5.7% for the same period in 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Professor Samuel Annim, the government statistician, said it was the first contraction in 37 years and followed the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic on businesses.

“Even after the restrictions were lifted, deals were closed in all sectors,” he said.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the second quarter of 2020 at current prices was estimated at GHc85,758.1 million compared to GHc84,312.0 million for the same period of 2019.

In constant terms, GDP for the second quarter of 2020 was estimated in GH? 39,952.6 million for the second quarter of 2019.

The quarterly annual GDP for the non-oil growth rate for the second quarter of 2020 contracted by 3.4% compared to the 4.3% registered in the second quarter of 2019.

The information and communications subsector recorded the largest expansion of 74.2 percent, while the hotel and restaurant subsector also recorded the largest contraction of 79.4 percent.

The quarterly GDP growth rate for the second quarter of 2020 was 0.8% compared to 1.2% in the first quarter of 2020.

Meanwhile, producer price inflation (PPI) fell slightly in August to 9.0 percent compared to 9.3 percent in July.

The month-on-month change in the producer price index between July 2020 and August 2020 was 0.9. percent.

The mining and quarrying subsector had the highest annual producer price inflation rate of 37.9 percent, followed by the utilities subsector with 5.8 percent.

The manufacturing subsector recorded the lowest annual producer inflation rate of 4.0 percent.

For the monthly changes, the mining and quarrying subsector registered the highest inflation rate of 5.2 percent, followed by the manufacturing subsectors with 0.2 percent.

The public services subsector did not register an inflation rate in August 2020.

The Producer Price Index (PPI) measures the average variation over time of the prices that national producers receive for the production of their goods and services.