ACCRA – Ghana’s economic growth quickened in the third quarter in a further sign of the west African country’s ongoing recovery from its worst economic crisis in a generation, statistics agency data showed on Wednesday.
Gross domestic product grew by 7.2% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2024, the most since the second quarter of 2019, the data showed.
The positive economic momentum comes as a new president and government prepare to take office on Jan. 7 after ex-president and main opposition leader John Dramani Mahama won Saturday’s election.
Growth in the second quarter of 2024 was revised to 7.0% from 6.9%, the agency said.
Ghana’s industrial sector, largely driven by mining and quarrying, grew by 10.4%, while the services sector expanded by 6.4% and the agricultural sector by 3.2%.
The cocoa sector in the world’s second biggest producer, however, contracted for the fifth consecutive quarter by 26%, the data showed.
Ghana defaulted on most of its external debt in 2022, leading to a painful restructuring.
Its cedi currency has been strengthening, but high inflation and government debt sustainability remain a concern for investors.
(Reporting by Maxwell Akalaare Adombila and Christian Akorlie; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Alex Richardson and Bernadette Baum)