Agric sector tops first-quarter GDP growth

Ghana’s Minister of Finance, Seth Terkper has revealed that the nation’s agricultural sector led in the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first quarter of 2014.

This was made known by the Minister during a presentation of the nation’s mid-year budget review in Parliament on Wednesday.

According to him, Ghana’s “GDP grew by 6.7 percent in the first quarter of 2014, down from 9.0 percent in the corresponding period in 2013.” The Agriculture Sector led with a growth of 12.7 percent, up from 6.7 percent in the analogous quarter in 2013.

“The Services Sector followed with a growth of 4.6 percent compared to 10.4 percent recorded in the same quarter of 2013, while the Industry Sector contracted by 1.1 percent compared to its growth of 8.1 percent growth in the corresponding period in 2013,” Mr. Terkpker stated.

Further information from the Ghana Statistical Service for the first-quarter indicates that "the performance of activities in the 1st quarter of 2014 compared with the 1st quarter of 2013 by economic activities showed that livestock production expanded by 24.7 per cent; fishing activities increased by 20.0 per cent; financial and insurance activities increased by 19.7 per cent; community, Social & personal activities was up by 10.7 per cent and information and communication increased by 10.3 per cent.”

Also, economic activity in the crops and cocoa sub-sector reflected a positive growth of 0.8 per cent over that of the 4th quarter of 2013, which was attributed to the seasonal nature of produce in the sector.