The first quarter provisional figures released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) reveal that Ghana’s economy grew by 4.9 per cent.
This is a few points up from the figure recorded during the same period in 2015.
During the first quarter of 2015, the economy grew by 4.5%.
The figures indicate that the Service sector recorded the highest growth of 8.8 percent.
The Agriculture sector followed with 2.8 percent while the industry sector grew by a negative 1.1 percent.
Ghana’s GDP is measured as the total value of all finished goods and services produced within a specific time period.
The provisional quarter –on-quarter GDP growth rate for the first quarter of 2016 is 1.1 percent which represents an estimated 8.095 million cedis in constant terms, compared with 7.718 million cedis in the first quarter of 2015.
According to the GSS, oil GDP at current prices for the first quarter of 2016 inclusive of the oil sector amounted to GH¢37,515.8 million compared to GH¢32,534.9 million in the first quarter of 2015, while GDP estimate at current prices without the oil sector for the first quarter of 2016 was GH¢36,892.2 million compared to GH¢31,331.9 million in the first quarter of 2015.
Meanwhile, GDP at Constant 2006 Prices for Oil GDP for the first quarter of 2016 was GH¢8,095.0 million compared to GH¢7,718.0 million in the first quarter of 2015.
The Non-Oil GDP estimate at constant 2006 prices for the first quarter of 2016 was GH¢7,683.8 million compared to GH¢7,206.7 million in the first quarter of 2015.
Meanwhile, GDP shares for the various sectors show that in the same period – first quarter of 2015, agriculture was 12.8%; industry was 29.9% and services was 57.3%.
According to the GSS the seasonally adjusted GDP showed that for the first quarter of 2016, the Agriculture sector grew by 0.4 percent in the first quarter compared with the first quarter of 2015 which recorded 2.8%.
Agriculture sector
In the Agriculture sector, Livestock subsector grew by 1.5% in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the 1.7% growth recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015.
The fishing sub sector recorded the least growth of negative 1.1% compared to 0.8% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Industry sector
The Industry sector in the first quarter of 2016 recorded negative 1.1 percent growth compared to 7.2 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Within the industry sector, Electricity sub-sector grew by 5.8%, against 0.5% recorded in the first quarter of 2015.
The Water and Sewerage subsector recorded a growth of 2.8% compared with 5.8% in the fourth quarter of 2015.
The Mining and Quarry sub-sector recorded the least growth of negative 3.4% compared with a contraction of 2.4% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Services sector
The Services sector grew by 8.8 percent in the first quarter compared to 5.2percent in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Finally, in the Services sector, Information and Communication grew by 4.3% compared with 1.3% growth recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015.
The Health sub-sector expanded by 4.0%, same as recorded in the 3rd quarter of 2015.
However, the business, Real Estate and other Services Activates expanded by 2.2%, but the Community, Social and Personal Service Activities sub-sector recorded the least growth of 0.7%.
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By: Norvan Acquah – Hayford/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana