Ghana’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 4.2% in quarter one 2025, Databank Research has stated.

This is despite the typical fiscal lag reflected in moderate appropriations, restrained public spending, and subdued private sector activity.

“In contrast to earlier fiscal and private sector lags, we expect the services sector to expand by 6.2%, driven by strong gains in information and communication as mobile money transactions surged 64.7% year-on-year, reaching GH¢649.2 billion in the first two months”, it said in its 2025 Quarterly Report.

“With improved crop and livestock supply and a lower 2024 base, agricultural growth is set to rise to 6.5%, supported by cocoa arrivals of 500,000 metric tons as of January 2025—near last year's annual target of 650,000 metric tons”, it added.

It expects industrial growth to decelerate from 0.2% in quarter 4, 2024 to 1.9%, dampened by construction cutbacks and lower oil revenues, with any uplift from gold output likely deferred to quarter 2 2025.

Economy Showed Resilience in 2024

Ghana's economy showed resilience in 2024, with real GDP growth (including oil) rising to 5.7% year-on-year—beating the 3.1% target and up from 3.2% in 2023—despite a quarter 4 slowdown (-3.6%).

This was driven by reduced sectoral activity ahead of elections.

The growth was largely driven by the industrial sector, which expanded by an average of 7.1%, supported by strong gold exports amid global uncertainty and rising central bank demand.

Election-year spending boosted construction, which grew by 9.7%, a sharp recovery from the 11.2% decline in 2023.