Dr Grace Bediako - Government Statistician
Ghana's economy saw a 7.7 per cent growth rate last year, indicating a 3.7 per cent leap from the 2009 growth rate of four per cent.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which calculates the total value of goods and services produced in the country during 2010, also amounted to GH¢46 million, representing a GH¢9,725 million surge from the 2009 GDP figure.
Launching the maiden edition of the quarterly release of the country's GDP estimates in Accra, the Government Statistician, Dr Grace Bediako, said, "The economy was robust throughout the year, with stronger growth witnessed in the last two months of 2010.”
On a quarterly basis, she said the last seasonal quarter of 2010 saw the economy growing by 9.6 per cent, as compared to the 6.2 per cent rate recorded for the same period in 2009.
With regard to the contributions of the various sectors to the economy, she said the services sector continued its dominance, recording 9.8 per cent, followed by industry and agriculture, which recorded 5.6 and 5.3 per cent respectively.
According to Dr Bediako, the Ghana Statistics Service (GSS) had resolved to release GDP figures on a quarterly basis, instead of the yearly releases, and hoped that the quarterly release "will help in policy decision making by the government and also guide the business community".
"Many economic experts attribute the economic downturn that engulfed the world in 2008 to the year-long release of GDP figures that do not give early warnings about the economy to the government and policy makers," she said.
She contends that the quarterly release of the GDP would help give early snapshots about what would be happening to the economy to policy makers and the government.
Touching on inflation for April, Dr Bediako said the rate inched down to 9.02 per cent from its March rate of 9.13 per cent, raising expectation among policy makers and managers of the economy that the downward inflationary trend might be resuming.
The April rate indicated a 0.11 per cent annual dip from the previous month’s figure.
The Government Statistician, at a news conference to announce the rate, said the downward trend in inflation for the period of March and April 2011 could “be attributed to the food and non-alcoholic beverages group”.
“While the food and non-alcoholic group had a 0.52 per cent point decline, the non-food group recorded a 0.16 per cent increase,” she said.
Dr Bediako attributed the 0.52 per cent decline in the food and non-alcoholic beverages to “the present stable exchange rate and the bumper harvest experienced last year”.
According to her, the 30 per cent increase in the ex-pump prices of petroleum products was still having ripples on the transport sector, causing it to record a monthly rate of 21.72 per cent, the highest in the non-food group.
Communications, however, recorded no change in its inflation rate for the period.
Non-alcoholic beverages recorded 1.52 per cent, the highest in the sub-group, while bread and cereals, two key consumables nation-wide, also recorded negative inflation rates of -1.55 per cent, being the lowest in the sub-group.
On the regional inflationary outlook, the Greater Accra Region recorded the highest rate of 12.31 per cent, while the Volta Region’s 5.24 per cent was the least.
Strangely, however, the Upper East and Upper West regions, both farming regions, recorded the highest inflation rates in the food group.
The rate of inflation, which measures the average price change of goods and services in the country, had, until last January, recorded continuous declines from 20.74 per cent in June 2009 to 8.58 per cent in December last year.
The trend, however, changed as the rate inched up by 0.5 and 0.08 per cent in January and February, respectively.
With the present consistent two-month decline in the rate, many are anxious to see if the trend will run deep into the year.
The Vice-President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Dr George Dawson-Ahmoah, who chaired the event, said the quarterly figures would help "businesses like us in the AGI to get essential information on the economy at the shorter frequency".
That, he added, was necessary to help the business community plan and forecast investment plans properly.
He called on the GSS to endeavour to sustain the initiative, since it was relevant to industry and policy makers nation-wide.