The Executive Director of Global InfoAnalytics, Mussa Dankwah, has linked Ghana’s sharp economic slowdown in the last quarter of 2024 to illegal mining activities.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, March 11, he noted that while the economy grew by 5.7% in 2024, surpassing the revised 3.1% recorded in 2023, growth in the fourth quarter fell from 7.2% in Q3 to 3.6% a 50% decline.
He attributed this to a drop in the mining sector, suggesting that illegal mining may have significantly contributed to the earlier growth.
However, as elections approached and public concern over galamsey increased, illegal mining activities reduced, leading to the sharp decline.
Mr. Dankwah warned that without new sources of growth, Ghana may struggle to sustain its 2024 growth rate unless the country turns a blind eye to galamsey again.
He stressed that mining should only drive growth if done responsibly by larger companies to prevent further destruction of forests and water bodies.
“We must quickly find a new source of growth to ensure that the 2025 GDP growth will at least be above 5.7%.”
“We should not allow mining to drive the growth unless it is done through responsible mining and by larger mining companies, in other way, could mean the destruction of our forest reserves and water bodies,” he wrote.
He also expressed concern that Ghana’s growth was mainly driven by inflation rather than real productivity, stating that the Bank of Ghana had failed in its core mandate of ensuring price stability.
He called for a shift in focus to price stability and productivity-led growth to secure sustainable economic progress in 2025.
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Ghana’s economy expanded by 5.7% in 2024, surpassing the revised 3.1% growth rate recorded in 2023. However, growth in the fourth quarter of 2024 slowed to 3.6%, down from 7.2% in the third quarter, reflecting a loss of momentum despite ongoing economic resilience.
While the economy grew by 2.6% year-on-year compared to 2023 and we celebrate the annual growth, there is something in that same data that must be of a great concern or a relief depending on whether you care about the environment.
The last quarter growth dropped from 7.2% to 3.6%, that is a drop of 50%, which is highly unusual. The drop is attributed a decline in the mining sector, suggesting that periods prior to the election year, illegal mining might have contributed hugely to the 7.2% growth and as the election approached and voters concern for gallamsey heightened, the activities of the illegal mining dropped, leading to a sharp decline in the sector.
Unless new sources of growth is identified to fill the gap, the economy is unlikely to grow at the same rate as that of 2024 unless we decide to turn a blind eye of the gallamsey again.
We must quickly find a new source of growth to ensure that the 2025 GDP growth will at least be above 5.7%. We should not allowing mining to drive the growth unless it is done through responsible mining and by larger mining companies, in other way, could mean the destruction of our forest reserves and water bodies.
UPDATE: GDP growth driven by inflation that a real increase in productivity. This is worrying oooo. Clearly BoG has failed on its main policy objective of price stability. We need to focus of price stability and productivity going forward.