The African Development Bank (AfDB) is projecting 3.3% expansion 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%.

In its 2023 Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook Report released today, January 19, 2023, the AfDB said Ghana’s expected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate is regarded as a weak performer.

In all, 25 out of the 52 African economies will record weak GDP in 2023.

Libya will become the fastest-growing economy in Africa with a growth rate of 12.9%. The weakest African economy will be Equatorial Guinea with -7.3% of GDP.

The report further said despite significant headwinds, Africa’s real GDP growth is projected to stabilize at 4% in 2023–24, 0.2 percentage points higher than the 3.8% recorded in 2022.

Africa’s stable growth outlook threatened by several challenges

It warned that Africa’s stable growth outlook is however threatened by several challenges, as the continent continues to deal with a confluence of overlapping shocks, which include, inter alia: ripple effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that continue to disrupt Africa’s and global supply chains, tightening of global financial conditions and the associated increase in domestic debt service costs; and lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, among others.

Growth across all five regions positive in 2022

Despite the confluence of multiple shocks, growth across all five African regions was positive in 2022 and the outlook for 2023–24 is projected to be stable.

In West Africa, the report said growth is estimated to have slowed to 3.6% in 2022 from 4.4% in 2021, reflecting decelerations in Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria.

For resource-intensive economies, the report stressed that average growth for this group could inch higher, to 3.0% in 2023, as market conditions improve.