Ghana’s economy grew by 8.5% in 2017 – Provisional Estimate

Ghana’s economy grew by 8.5 per cent in 2017 – the fastest rate in five years – mainly due to increased oil and gas production, the country’s statistics office said on Wednesday.

The office noted in a statement in Ghana that the West African nation recorded economic growth of 3.7 per cent in 2016.

It indicated that growth in the fourth quarter of 2017 reached 8.1 per cent, compared with 9.7 per cent in the third quarter of the year under review.

It stated that third quarter figure was revised upward from 9.3 per cent.

Ghana, which exports cocoa and gold, started oil production in late 2010 from its flagship offshore Jubilee field with a daily output of 100,000 barrels per day.

It recorded its fastest ever growth rate of 14 per cent in 2011 and the economy grew by 9.3 per cent in 2012. The Ghana Government statistician, Baah Wadieh, told reporters in Accra that “oil and gas are the key drivers of the growth.