Ghana GDP Contracts For a Second Quarter as Industry Stalls

(Bloomberg) -- Ghana’s economy contracted for a second straight quarter in the three months through September, even as the government eased restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Gross domestic product declined 1.1% in the third quarter from a year earlier, government statistician Samuel Kobina Annim told reporters Wednesday in the capital, Accra. That compares with a contraction of 3.2% in the second quarter.

The data may put the central bank’s projection of 2% to 2.5% growth this year at risk. West Africa’s largest economy after Nigeria is struggling to rebound from the impact of a virus-related slump, as many businesses remain shut.

Quarter-on-quarter GDP contracted 0.3%.

The economy of the world’s second-largest cocoa producer faces some uncertainty after its main opposition leader challenged the results of Dec. 7 presidential and parliamentary elections, saying his party work to get them overturned. John Mahama, the flag-bearer for the National Democratic Congress, got 47.4% of total valid votes cast, trailing President Nana Akufo-Addo’s 51.6%, according to Ghana’s electoral commission.

Key Points

• The non-oil GDP for the third quarter shrank 0.4% year-on-year
• Industry declined 5.1% over the same period, compared with a 5.7% contraction in the previous quarter
• Hotel and restaurants dropped 62%, compared with a 74.2% slump in the previous quarter

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