The African Development Bank says Ghana’s economy expanded by 3.6% in 2022, from 5.4% in 2021.

This is slightly lower than the 3.7% forecast by the Government of Ghana and 3.8% by the World Bank.

Indeed, this was also 1.8 percentage points lower than the initial forecast of 5.4%.

In its latest  2023 Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook Report, it said growth was weighed  down  by  deep  macroeconomic  imbalances— higher inflation, depreciating local currency,  and  high  public  debt,  estimated  at  91% of Gross Domestic Product.

The top growth performers in 2022  were  Seychelles (8.3%),  Rwanda  (6.9%) and Kenya (5.5%).

Growth in oil-exporting countries declined marginally

It said average growth in oil-exporting countries declined marginally to an estimated 4.0% in 2022 from 4.2% in 2021,  largely  reflecting  the sharp decline in Libya and weaker growth in Nigeria.

“Africa’s  oil-exporting  countries  account  for  about  51%  of  the  continent’s  GDP,  so  their growth has a significant influence on Africa’s average  performance. Nigeria,  Africa’s  largest  economy and top oil producer, accounts for about 30%  of  the  output  for  this  group  of  countries. But it has suffered from steady declines in oil production, due to continuing underinvestment in infrastructure and rising incidences of theft and overall insecurity”.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) projected 3.3% growth ratge of the Ghanaian economy in 2023.

This is higher than the Government of Ghana’s forecast of 2.8% in 2023, the World Bank’s 2.7% and the International Monetary Fund’s 2.8%.