Ghana likely to achieve a treasury annual growth target of 4.4%, Government statistician
Cedi has depreciated by 5.2% against the U.S. dollar this year
There's been a boost in the local economy in the third quarter of the year. This expansion is due to the increase in sales in the service industry after schools were opened, following its shutdown because of the rapid spread of the deadly coronavirus.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) witnessed a sharp increase of 6.6% in the last three months.
According to a government statistician, Samuel Kobina Annim, Ghana's GDP in the second quarter was pegged at 5.1%.
This, he said, was above the projection made in the Bloomberg survey for growth - 3.5%.
In a Bloomberg report sighted by GhanaWeb, Ghana is likely to achieve a treasury annual growth target of 4.4%.
Meanwhile, government is projecting a budget deficit of 12.1% GDP this year.
It aims at achieving this through the introduction of e-levy on all mobile transactions and remittances to rake in about GHC6.9 billion.
“Despite the better-than-expected growth, we still have concerns about Ghana’s debt sustainability,” Kevin Daly, investment director at Aberdeen Standard Investments, said in a text response to questions.
“They have no access to the Eurobond market and local bonds are not appealing either given the risk of further currency weakness," he added.
The Ghanaian currency, Cedi, is now trading at 6.1863 against the dollar as at Tuesday, December 21.
Also, the yield on Ghana dollar bonds maturing in 2032 eased marginally to 11.4015%.
Below is how the services sector, others performed in the last quarter:
Services sector - 13.4%
Education subsector expanded by 24.2% after children resumed school.
Agricultural sector grew by 9.2%, led by fishing, which expanded 14.3%.
Quarter-on-quarter overall GDP expanded 1.6%.
Ghana's GDP is 6.6%