Ghana’s economy on a path to recovery

IN a budget statement on Wednesday, Ghana's finance minister stated that the country's economy was recovering, citing stronger economic growth than the previous year and a smaller budget deficit than anticipated thus far this year.

With the cedi currency falling precipitously and inflation running wild, the West African nation is experiencing its worst economic crisis in a century.

Due to its exclusion from global finance markets, the government of the producer of cocoa, gold, and oil went to the International Monetary Fund for financial assistance last year.

On Wednesday, Ghana's Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta informed parliamentarians that the country's total budget deficit from January to August was 3 percent of gross domestic (GDP), which was less than the 4,6 percent of GDP objective.

According to him, real GDP growth in the first half of this year has averaged 3,2 percent, which is better than the 2,9 percent growth in the same time of 2022.

Since launching a gold-for-reserves program, the central bank has purchased gold worth more than US$1 billion to increase its reserves, he continued.

Ghana aims to achieve three goals by 2024: a primary budget surplus of 0,5 percent of GDP, a year-end inflation rate of 15 percent from more than 35 percent in October of this year, and GDP growth of at least 2,8 percent.

Just yesterday, it was reported that Ghana’s annual inflation rate fell to 35,2 percent from 38,1 percent in September, according to government statistician Samuel Kobina Annim.

Food prices dropped faster than expected, surpassing the median prediction of seven Bloomberg-surveyed economists, who had projected a rate of 36,3 percent. — Business Insider Africa