Ghana’s economy has ranked 73rd in the world in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) for the year 2019 making it the eighth largest economy in Africa.
The 2020 figures are not expected for another one year.
According to the World Bank, Ghana’s economy stood at about US$67 billion in size in 2019, making it the eighth biggest economy on the African continent.
The country’s economy was also ranked 141st in the world in terms of GDP per capita and the 143rd most complex economy, according to the Bretton Wood Institution’s Economic Complexity Index.
The wide disparity between Ghana’s ranking by size of the economy and its ranking by per capita is worrying economists as it implies that residents are not benefitting enough from the economy compared averagely with the other countries of the world.
The rankings also imply that Ghana’s economy is not complex enough to match its size; indeed, it still relies on primary commodities – gold, cocoas and crude oil – for most of its export revenues leaving it vulnerable to external price shocks. It is also over-reliant on imports for most of its consumer goods and industrial inputs.
On the upside however, Ghana is one of the faster growing economies in the world, ranking 34th with its 5.6% growth rate in 2019 and 46th for its five-year average growth rate of 4.6 percent over the period 2015 to 2019.
Due to the adverse economic impacts of COVID-19, the total value of goods and services in the economy shrank to about US$63 billion dollars last year, though there are expectations that it will expand to US$70 billion by the end of this year as economic growth resumes.
The economy is expected to grow at a rate of 4.6% this year according to the World Bank (although government expects it to grow even faster, by 5%) and this will be driven by sub sectors such as information and communication, real estate, crops and livestock.
Presently, the services sector is the biggest sector with an estimated size of a little above GHC172 billion. It is followed by industry which is about GHC140 billion in size and agriculture which is estimated at about GHC73.8 billion.
Globally, the United States of America is the biggest economy with a size of US$21.43 trillion.
China and Japan follow in second and third with economic sizes of about US$14 trillion and US$5 trillion respectively.
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