Business News of Wednesday, 1 July 2020
Source: goldstreetbusiness.com
2020-07-01
IMF is forecasting 1.5 percent GDP growth at worst for Ghana in 2020
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Ghana’s economy will grow strongly at 5.9 percent, in 2021, after the looming dismal outlook for 2020, thanks to the COVID 19 crisis.
The projection was made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The outlook for 2021, according to the Fund is positive with the 5.9 growth rate well above that of the country’s peers in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) and even that of the world.
The Global Economic and External Sector Development Report published by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) quoted the Fund’s projection, noting that Ghana’s growth rate will be among the highest among advanced, emerging, frontier and developing economies.
The IMF is forecasting 1.5 percent GDP growth at worst for Ghana in 2020, due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the necessary restrictive public policy responses.
But the economy, according to the Fund will grow very strongly next year, buoyed by immense activities in the services and industry sectors.
The IMF estimates that the global economy will recover to 5.8 percent in 2021.
China, an emerging economy will record the highest growth of 9.2 percent in the world next year, followed by India, another emerging economy at 7.4 percent.
Both economies will grow by a low 1.2 and 1.9 percent respectively this year. The United States of America’s economy is expected to grow by 4.7 percent next year, following a contraction of 5.9% this year.
Most of the advanced European economies will also grow by more than 4 percent of GDP in 2021 the IMF predicts.
Nigeria and South Africa are expected to grow at rates of 2.4 and 4.0 percent respectively in 2021. Their economies will however contract this year.
Sub-Saharan Africa’s real GDP growth is projected to decline from 3.1 percent in 2019 to -1.6 percent in 2020.
Broadly, risks to the outlook are tilted to the downside despite the massive monetary and fiscal stimulus initiatives undertaken by the various central banks and governments. For instance, it is still highly uncertain how long the COVID 19 pandemic will continue to spread, the extent of the economic fallout, and how quickly global growth will recover from the outbreak.
Ghana’s economy grew at a rate of 4.9 percent in the first quarter of 2020. According to the Ghana Statistical Service, the services sector grew impressively at a rate of 9.5 percent in Q1 of 2020.
The 4.9 percent growth rate is compared with the 6 percent growth rate during quarter one 2019.
The main sub-sectors that droved GDP growth rate in January to March 2020 GDP were Information & Communication, Manufacturing, Education and Public Administration & Defence, Social Security.
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