Economy showing signs of strong recovery – Finance Minister

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The Finance Minister, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam has announced that Ghana’s economy is showing strong signs of recovery.

At a press briefing on Monday, July 1, Dr Adam highlighted the positive economic indicators for the first quarter of 2024, suggesting a favourable outlook for the rest of the year.

“Growth, as we’ve heard from the previous two distinguished speakers, is proving to be more resilient and robust than initially programmed, and the economy continues to show strong signs of recovery, particularly in the first quarter of 2024,” he stated.

Dr Adam emphasized that the overall macroeconomic environment remains stable as the government continues to implement the IMF-supported program.

“The results have been remarkable. Overall, real GDP growth for the first quarter of 2024 was 4.7%, the highest since the first quarter of 2022. This growth performance surpasses the 3.1% recorded in the same period in 2023.”

He also discussed the sectoral performance, noting significant improvements, with industry-leading growth at 6.8%, followed by agriculture at 4.1%, and services at 3.3%.

Dr Adam pointed out that, the first quarter 2024 GDP growth rate is the highest since the fourth quarter of 2020.

The Finance Minister reiterated the government’s commitment to maintaining macroeconomic stability and fostering sustainable growth through the continued implementation of the IMF-supported program.

This announcement follows the completion of the IMF Executive Board’s second review of Ghana’s $3 billion, 36-month Extended Credit Facility (ECF) Arrangement.

Approved in May 2023, this review served as a critical checkpoint for the country.

The completion of this review resulted in an immediate disbursement of approximately $360 million, bringing Ghana’s total disbursements under the arrangement to about $1.6 billion.

The Finance Minister confirmed that the third tranche of the IMF’s $360 million disbursement is expected to be received today, Monday, July 1.

According to the IMF, Ghana’s performance under the program has been generally strong.