Ghana’s economy contracted by 1.1 percent year-on-year in the third quarter (July to September) of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the same period of 2019, the growth was 5.6 percent.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate without oil and gas (Non-Oil GDP) for third-quarter 2020 was -0.4 percent which compared to the same period in 2019 with a growth rate of 4.6 percent.

The Agriculture sector recorded the highest growth of 8.3 percent while the Industry and Services sectors contracted 5.1 percent and 1.1 percent respectively.

Professor Samuel Annim, the Government Statistician, said 31,902 businesses were still closed because of the pandemic.

The drivers of the negative growth during the period were the mining and quarrying sub-sector and Trade, Repair of Vehicle, Household Goods.

Mining and Quarrying contracted by 16.9 percent while Trade, Repair of Vehicle fell 7.7 percent.

The hotel and Restaurants sub-sector experienced the highest contraction of 62.1 percent but contributed less to the fall in GDP.

On the other hand, the Information and Communication sub-sector recorded an expansion of 51.3 percent while fishing grew by 20.4 percent.

Real estate was up 12.2 percent and Electricity went up 11.6 percent during the period