· The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has begun the process of validating data of Ghana and review its growth forecast for Ghana.
· The IMF had earlier slashed its growth forecast for Ghana from 6.1 per cent at the beginning of the year to 1.5 per cent.
Based on recent developments and provisional data, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has begun the process of validating data of Ghana and review its growth forecast for Ghana. The revision of the country’s economic outlook, will be based on the consultations with relevant state institutions to obtain and validate data to feed into its especially the growth position.
The IMF had earlier slashed its growth forecast for Ghana from 6.1 per cent at the beginning of the year to 1.5 per cent. In April, it cut it further to 0.9 per cent around June.The Ghana Resident Representative of the IMF, Dr Albert Touna Mama, told the media that the fund was optimistic that the economy would grow around two per cent — above the IMF’s earlier forecast of 0.9 per cent and the government’s target of 1.5 per cent.
Commenting on the impact of the COVID-19 on growth, Dr Touna Mama said that, the IMF hoped that economic growth in Ghana would remain in the positive territory for 2020. Data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) he said, indicated that the COVID-19 shock on the economy was lower than initial estimation.
He added that though the 3.2 per cent contraction in growth for the second quarter was expected, the rate of negative growth was lower than previously anticipated and may be below two per cent. The fund expected growth in the third quarter to be better than that of the second quarter due to the significant increases in economic activities and a pick-up of business recovery. Dr Touna Mama mentioned that information and communications technology (ICT) and digital services, pharmaceutical and health services, agriculture and manufacturing as the key areas that could drive the growth.
