The West African country of Ghana, which just elected a new president in the hopes of changing the country’s economic misfortunes, had in the third quarter of 2024, recorded growth in its economy.
A recent report revealed that the country’s Gross Domestic Product grew 7.2% in the three months leading up to September, compared to the same period, the year prior.
This information was disclosed to reporters in the country’s capital, Accra, during a press briefing on Wednesday, by Government Statistician Samuel Kobina.
He stated that the GDP growth was the strongest rate of year-on-year increase since 7.9% was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2019, which is significantly higher than the median of three experts’ predictions in a Bloomberg survey for a 5.4% expansion.
The data follows former President John Mahama’s election triumph earlier this week, as voters rejected the current administration amid discontent over a cost-of-living issue in the West African nation.
Ghana is coming off a lengthy debt restructuring and is in the second year of an International Monetary Fund program that includes tough austerity measures. Bloomberg reports.
IMF loan to Ghana
On May 17, the executive board of the International Monetary Fund authorized a $3 billion, three-year loan plan for Ghana.
This made it possible to pay out around $600 million right away and may have provided a way out of the greatest economic crisis the nation has seen in a generation.
Ghana announced shortly afterward its ambitious intention to pay off $10 billion of its total external debt by 2026.
This $600 million prompt payment comes after Ghana’s pursuit of a $3 billion IMF loan it had been trying to secture since 2022.
For some time, the IMF was reluctant to provide the loan due to their skepticism of Ghana’s capacity to restructure its debt.
