Ghana failed to meet its target for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate in 2019.
This was revealed by Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta when he delivered the 2020 mid-year budget statement in Parliament Thursday.
Mr Ofori-Atta noted that the country recorded a growth rate of 6.5 per cent as against a target of 7.0 per cent.
Nonetheless, this represented a 0.2 improvement from the 2018 figure of 6.3.
This, Ofori-Atta argued, confirms that the economy has “continued with its robust performance since 2017.”
– Non-oil real GDP growth rate was 5.8 percent as against a projection of 5.9 percent.
– End-period December inflation remained 7.9 percent with the target being 8.0 percent
– Overall Budget Balance, which was projected to end in a deficit equivalent to 4.5 percent of GDP, reached 4.8 percent
– Primary balance reached 0.8 percent as against a projected surplus equivalent to 1.1 percent of GDP
– Accumulated Gross International Reserves exceeded the projected 3.5 months of cover for imports of goods and services to reach 4 months.
“Key drivers of this performance include the Information Communication Technology (ICT), which recorded the highest subsector growth rate of 46.5 percent, followed by Real Estate with growth rate of 19.9 percent,” the Minister said.