The country’s 8.7 percent growth rate recorded in the first quarter of this year compared with 3.3 percent recorded over the same period of last year is indicative of a rapidly growing economy, the Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA) has noted.

CEPA indicates that positive impacts will begin to register should the trend continue till the end of this year.

A recent press statement from the economic think tank, which revealed this, said Ghana’s agriculture sector performed bleakly by recording a growth of -2.9 percent in the first three months of the year, industry registered the highest growth of 21.7 percent after the services sector, which recorded 5.7 percent.

To further explain this point, Dr Joe Abbey, Executive Director of CEPA, speaking to an Accra-based radio station noted: “The first quarter of this year is performing better than the first quarter of last year, but we are also saying to you that there is something to worry about – the first quarter of this year compared to the fourth quarter of last year.”

He noted that the recurring decline between the first quarter of 2012 and the last quarter of 2011 witnessed a sharper decline than before, adding that problems being faced in the oil sector somewhat contributed to that.

For the four quarters that constitute the calendar year, namely the first, second, third and fourth quarters of 2011, the real GDP growth rate is estimated at 14.1 percent.

This comprises a trend growth rate of 8.2 percent of the non-oil sector together with a contribution equivalent to 5.9 percent of non-oil GDP from the oil (both Jubilee and Saltpond) sector.

By way of comparison, CEPA estimates on the basis of the data released by the GSS, for the 12 month period ending first quarter of 2012 namely the second, third and fourth quarters of 2011 plus the first quarter of 2012 the overall growth rate (also called the seasonally adjusted annual growth rate) accelerated to an annual rate of 15.5 percent.

The acceleration in the seasonally adjusted growth rate for the first quarter of 2012 is explained by the fact that the year-on-year growth rate of 8.7 percent recorded for that quarter is a marked improvement- two and half times over the 3.3 percent recorded for the first quarter of the preceding year 2011.