Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, the Minister for Finance has said the Government through prudent fiscal management, sound monetary policy, effective structural reforms and strategic investment is laying a solid foundation for sustainable economic growth and shared prosperity for the nation.
Presenting the 2025 Mid-Year Budget Review on Thursday, July 24, the Finance Minister noted that the first half of 2025 has demonstrated the government’s commitment to economic recovery.
The Minister reiterated the macroeconomic targets set out by the government in the 2025 Economic Policy and Budget Statement presented sometime March 2025.
“To put the assessment of the economy in the first half of 2025 in a proper perspective, it will be useful to restate the ambitious, yet attainable, macroeconomic targets we set for ourselves” he said.
He further mentioned the target of an overall Real GDP growth of at least 4.0%; Non-Oil Real GDP growth of at least 4.8%; End-year inflation rate of 11.9%; Primary balance on commitment basis at a surplus of 1.5% of GDP; and the Gross International Reserves covering not less than three months of imports.
Highlighting on the Real Sector Performance, Dr Forson said despite the global economic uncertainties, Ghana’s economy demonstrated robust growth.
He noted the economy in the first quarter of 2025 expanded by 5.3%, up from 4.9% in the same period of 2024, marking the highest first quarter growth since 2020.
He disclosed that the agriculture sector led this growth with a remarkable 6.6% increase, about three times the growth in the first quarter of 2024. He emphasized the agriculture sector growth contributed 26.4% of the overall first quarter growth. The fishing sub-sector grew the most at 16.4%.
The Finance Minister disclosed the services sector, constituting the largest share of the economy at 46.8%, grew by 5.9% and contributed 47.9% to the overall first quarter growth, with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) leading the growth in the sector at 13.1%.
The Industry sector however grew by 3.4% in the first quarter of 2025, contributing 20.6% to the overall first quarter growth while Manufacturing also posted an impressive growth of 6.6%.
He pointed out that the non-oil GDP growth also picked up strongly, growing at 6.8% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the growth rate of 4.3% in the same period in 2024, asserting the figure is the highest since 2018.
“It is expected that with the introduction of the 24-Hour Economy Policy, the Big Push Programme and the Agriculture for Economic Transformation Programme, the GDP growth will be sustained and possibly exceed the targeted rate of 4% for 2025” Dr Forson indicated.
