The Ghanaian economy is recovering despite the economic challenges in recent years, Deloitte Ghana has revealed in its review of the 2024 Mid-Year Budget.
However, this is based on the information shared by the Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin-Adam.
“It is important to note that unlike prior years, the 2024 mid-year budget statement did not request for Parliament to approve additional allocation. The mid-year budget statement focused mainly on tracking progress on implementation of the 2024 budget and also indicated the government’s revised budget for some key economic indicators. Overall, the information shared by the finance minister suggests the economy is recovering despite economic challenges in recent years”.
It further explained that the improved performance in the first half of 2024 appears to have raised the goovernment confidence which should boost investor confidence.
Again, the downward trend recorded in the year-to-date depreciation of the cedi and inflation further affirms Deloitte’s view that the economic recovery process is on track.
However, it stressed that the upcoming elections and its potential for increased government expenditure beyond targeted levels, as well as the recurrent increase demand for dollars ahead of Christmas festivities in the last quarter of the year present risk to the improved currency situation and inflation.
In terms of sectoral performance, Deloitte expressed its excitement about the expansion of the industry sector by 6.8% in quarter one 2024. This follows contraction in 2023 and only a marginal growth prior to 2023.
The mining and quarrying subsectors emerged as the major drivers of the industry sector growth by registering a 12.9% expansion. This sector’s resurgence it said reflects an uptick in global commodity prices.
Hence, we expect to see a positive impact on the economy as jobs, wages and community infrastructure are all expected to increase”, Deloitte noted.
In 2024, overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to grow by 3.1%, down from the initial 2024 budget of 2.8%.
Similarly, non-oil GDP growth has been revised to 2.8%, up from the 2024 budget of 2.1%.
Overall GDP is projected to grow at an average rate of 4.4% per annum over the period 2024-2027. In 2023, Ghana’s economy expanded by 2.9% compared to a revised target of 2.3%.
In addition, non-oil GDP also expanded by 3.3% relative to a revised target of 2.8%. The growth in 2023 was largely driven by improvement in the service (5.5%) and agriculture (4.5%) sectors, with the industry sector contracting by 1.2%.