The Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) has projected a deceleration in the services sector’s performance for the year 2024, with an anticipated growth rate of 1.8%. This projection marks a decline compared to the previous year’s performance.
Nevertheless, ISSER remains optimistic about the future, predicting that the services sector will rebound with a 3.0% growth rate in 2024 and a more robust 5.0% growth rate in 2025.
In 2023, both the Services and Agriculture sectors are expected to be the primary drivers of economic growth in Ghana.
ISSER further emphasized that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal is poised to boost investor confidence and domestic tourism in Ghana. This, in turn, is expected to bring substantial advantages to the services sector.
In summary, ISSER anticipates that the services sector will continue to demonstrate resilience and serve as a vital pillar supporting overall economic growth, particularly with the successful implementation of the IMF deal.
Services sector main contributor to Ghana’s growth recovery
The services sector played a pivotal role in Ghana’s economic recovery, with a growth rate of 5.5% in 2022, compared to the impressive 9.4% achieved in 2021, as highlighted in the SGER 2021 report.
However, despite its continued dominance in 2022, the sector’s performance fell short of the estimations set in 2021.
The relatively slower growth of the sector in 2022 can be attributed to a general slowdown in the growth of all subsectors, except for Finance and Insurance, Education, and Health and Social Work.
Notably, the ICT subsector remained the best performer, although its growth in 2022 was less than the rate achieved in 2021. ISSER suggested that this might be partly due to a decline in the intensity of virtual services usage after the pandemic.
Remarkably, the education subsector experienced its highest growth rate in 2022 since 2015.
Services sector records 6.3% GDP growth in quarter 2, 2023
The Ghana Statistical Services reported that, in the second quarter of 2023, the services sector experienced substantial growth, reaching a rate of 6.3%.
During this period, data revealed that 10 out of the 11 sub-sectors within the services sector expanded, signifying a positive trend in the overall sector’s performance.
The sole sub-sector that experienced a contraction during this time was “Trade, Repair of Vehicle and Household Goods,” with a decrease of -5.3%.
In contrast, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is forecasting a 1.5% growth rate for Ghana for the current year, while the World Bank is projecting a slightly higher GDP growth rate of 1.6%.