Accra, July 11, GNA - The updated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for year ended 2005 is now 5.9 per cent, says the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).

Speaking to journalists in Accra on Tuesday, Professor Nicholas Nsowah-Nuamah, Deputy Government Statistician, said data computed for the 2006 budget, which pegged the GDP for the previous year at 5.8, did not capture the actual year-ended figures for all the sectors. This was because the budget was read far earlier than usual and the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) did not have up-to-date information from the various sectors.

According to Prof. Nsowah-Nuamah, the Service worked with available data and the projected figure, which was 5.8, but current figures from the agriculture sector, had pushed the revised figure up to 5.9 per cent even though the figure from the sector was less than expected.

The agriculture sector posted 4.1 per cent growth for 2005, according to current statistics, as against 7.0 per cent for 2004. Prof. Nsowah-Nuamah said the industrial sector recorded the highest growth rate of 7.7 per cent followed by the services sector with 6.7 per cent growth.

He explained that the poor performance of the agriculture sector could be attributed to various factors such as the negative growth rate for the fisheries sub-sector.

The projected GDP for 2006 is 6.0 per cent.