Results from an IEA 2017 Business Confidence Survey Report has suggested there was a massive increase in the performance of businesses during the second half of 2017, a sharp transformation from the nation’s ailing business economy in the first half of the same year.

All things being equal, businesses in Ghana according to the report expressed great confidence in the nation’s economic prowess and the hope it gave to businesses in the second half of 2017.

Speaking at the launch in Accra, Dr. Eric Osei-Assibey an Adjunct fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), elucidated in detail the various reasons why businesses in the second half of 2017 recorded an increase in performance.

The report which basically compares business performances in second half 2016 to the first and second halves of 2017 showed that about 31 percent of business in the first half of 2017 believed business was better compared to the second half of 2016, while 31 percent also believed nothing had changed and 39 percent which signifies the majority believed business performance was a complete disaster.

The agriculture sector, according to the report, saw about 43 percent of businesses declaring a decline in performance while 17 percent said it had improved, an indication that the sector in the first half of 2017 was underperforming.

Dr. Osei-Assibey explained that these numbers were not surprising as the first half of 2017 saw the introduction of a new government and the readjustments that were effected during that period especially in the business space made it difficult for businesses to smoothly operate.

“That should be expected somewhat because the first half was clearly the year that the new government had actually taken place and putting together policies and so you realize that businesses where actually not performing,” he noted.

This however did not last as in the second half of 2017 business performances saw a massive boost.

The report reveals that about 46 percent of businesses testified to an increase in their performances while a small number of about 23 percent regarded business performances as the worst.

The agriculture sector which was ailing in the first half of 2017 gained a massive increase from 17 percent to a whopping 37 percent, a significant transformation within a short period.

39 percent of businesses however still saw the business performance as worsened.

The industrial sector recorded much better performance of about 47 percent which in comparison to the first half was around 31 percent.

Now the financial sector, was a little bit different from the others as according to the report, business performance in the first half of 2017 was about 58 percent, an improvement compared to 2016.

The growth however was maximized in the second half of 2017 when business performance in the financial sector was graded at 71 percent.

These numbers are not very surprising considering the fact that the World Bank this year applauded the nation’s economic growth rate and described it as the fastest growing economy in the world.