The International Monetary Fund has lowered Ghana’s growth rate to 1.6% for this year, from the earlier projection of 2.8% in its April 2023 World Economic Outlook (WEO) Report.
This is coming after the World Bank cut the country’s growth rate forecast for this year to below 2%.
The Fund cited fiscal slippages as a result of high debt and budget deficit, reducing government spending in infrastructure and investments, as the major reasons.
It however predicted a 2.9% expansion of the economy in 2024.
For emerging market and developing economies, the report said economic prospects are on average stronger than for advanced economies, but these prospects vary more widely across regions.
n average, growth is expected to be 3.9% in 2023 and to rise to 4.2% in 2024.
The forecast for 2023 is modestly lower by 0.1 percentage point than in the January 2023 WEO Update and significantly below the 4.7% forecast of January 2022.
In low-income developing countries, Gross Domestic Product is expected to grow by 5.1%, on average, over 2023–24, but projected per capita income growth averages only 2.8% during 2023–24, below the average for middle-income economies (3.2%) and so below the path needed for standards of living to converge with those in middle-income economies.