As Ghana’s economy is projected at have a stronger growth in 2019, the World Bank has advised that diversifying the economy will be crucial to this achievement.
This call was made by the Country Director of the World Bank, Henry Kerali at the launch of the 4th edition of the Ghana Economic Update, which focuses on financial sector development and financial inclusion.
Kerali further stated that addressing the remaining vulnerabilities in the financial sector is urgent and will require additional efforts in 2019.
The report projects Ghana’s economic growth to increase to 7.6 percent in 2019, driven by both the oil and non-oil sectors. Growth in the non-oil sector is expected to accelerate as policy interventions in agriculture and industry will revitalize the productive sectors.
It recommends the need to better invest Ghana’s current natural resource wealth in non-natural resource sectors for sustainable growth in the medium-to-long-term.
Ghana’s annual economic growth continued on a strong path at 6.3 percent in 2018, although at a slower pace than the 8.1 percent in 2017.
This trend was led largely by a strong growth in mining, petroleum, agriculture and sustained expansion in forestry and logging. Non-oil GDP reached a strong 6.5 percent growth in 2018.
The report notes that the industry sector continued to boost growth with 10.5 percent expansion, followed by agriculture with 4.8 percent; while the services sector grew by only 2.8 percent in 2018. Inflation decreased from 19.2 percent in March 2016 to 9.4 percent in December 2018, the lowest in five years and was 9.5 percent in April 2019.
The report notes that universal financial access is an attainable target in Ghana with the use of innovative technology and approaches. However, government must continue to lead the implementation of its financial inclusion strategy over the medium term.