Economic activity continues to recover beyond half-year 2023 – BoG

The Bank of Ghana has pointed out that economic activity continued to recover beyond the first half of 2023.

According to the Central Bank’s Monetary Policy Report, indications are that growth is still firming up after recording an average real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 3.2% in the first half of the year,

In the third quarter, the Central Bank’s high frequency real sector indicators pointed to continued pick-up in economic activity, although at a moderate pace.

The updated Composite Index of Economic Activity (CIEA) contracted at a lower rate of 0.4% in September 2023, compared with a sharper contraction of 1.2% in the same period of last year.

The main indicators that contributed to the relative improvement in the CIEA were industrial consumption of electricity, private sector contributions to Social Security, and tourist arrivals.

The momentum in credit to the private sector, cement sales, and port activity, however, slowed down over the period.

Confidence survey shows emerging positive sentiments about eceonomy

However, the Central Bank’s confidence surveys conducted in October 2023 reflected emerging positive sentiments about the economy.

The Business Confidence Index improved as firms met their short-term targets and expressed optimism about business prospects, while the Consumer Confidence Index remained generally unchanged and stable over the August 2023 survey.

Also, Ghana’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for October 2023 was at 50.5, unchanged from the previous month level.

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