Ghana’s economy has been growing at significant rates, greatly fueled by its petroleum sector. The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) calculated the total GDP growth for 2017 to be 8.5%. This impressive rate is up from the years estimated growth rate of 6.3% and 2016’s rate of 3.7%.
The economic importance of Ghana’s booming petroleum sector is illustrated as the 2017 GDP growth excluding oil was 4.9%, minutely down from the 5% of 2016.
The primary drivers of the 2017 economy were industry, agriculture, and services. Respectively, these sectors grew by 16.7% (greatly due to petroleum production), 8.4%, and 4.3%. Exclusively, the petroleum sector grew by 8.4%.
Ghana is experiencing incredibly healthy growth rates, even excluding oil’s impact, and there appears to be steady growth in the forecast. Yet, due to the immense impact of oil on the country’s economy, continual diligent governance over the resource is required.
By: Andrew David
