Ghana’s Economy Expands Most Since 2014 as Oil Industry Grows

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana’s economy expanded the most in three years in the second quarter as the oil and gas industry increased.

The gross domestic product of West Africa’s largest economy after Nigeria’s rose 9 percent from a year earlier in the three months through June, Baah Wadieh, the acting government statistician at the Ghana Statistical Service, told reporters Wednesday in the capital, Accra. The median of five estimates in a survey was for 6 percent.

The industry sector, which includes oil and gas and accounts for 26.5 percent of GDP, expanded 19.3 percent, he said. Output from the Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme oil fields off the coast started in August.

The agency raised the growth rate for 2016 to 3.7 percent from 3.5 percent, which was the lowest in more than a quarter of a century. Ghana, which is the world’s largest cocoa producer after Ivory Coast, is relying on oil revenue to boost economic growth and ease its budget deficit.

Source: Bloomberg Business News