Illegal mining might have contributed hugely to the economic growth – Mussa Dankwah

Executive Director of Global InfoAnalytics Mussa Dankwah has said that while the economy grew by 2.6% in 2024, year-on-year compared to 2023, there is something in the same data released by the Statistical Service that must be of great concern or relief depending on whether one cares about the environment.

He said that the last quarter’s growth dropped from 7.2% to 3.6%, which 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,” he wrote on Facebook.

To that end he has called for a new source of economic growth to ensure that the 2025 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth will at least be above 5.7%.

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.

Mussa Dankwah said “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 be 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.”

For his part, the Member of Parliament for Tano North, Dr Gideon Boako said that the recent GDP figures confirm that the rebound in the economy was real.

In a post on his Facebook page titled “NPP delivers: Ghana wins” on Monday March 10, a read before the 2025 budget presentation by the Finance Minister, Dr Boako said, “The Ghana Statistical Service in today’s announcement puts Ghana’s real GDP growth for 2024 at 5.7%. The budget target was 3.1% revised to 4%. With this GDP figure out, our new public debt to GDP ratio for 2024 now stands at 61.8%.

“This is what the Finance Minister is expected to announce in the budget that will be presented tomorrow. This is a massive drop in the public debt to GDP ratio from 80.4% in 2020. This is also below the pre-COVID-19 level when the debt-to-GDP ratio was 65.7%. With these developments, the NPP government’s debt management strategy worked perfectly and quickly restored the debt sustainability of the country.”

This means that Ghana could reach the debt sustainability target of 55% under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme earlier than the planned 2028 target year if only the new government continues to implement the debt management strategy.

“The release of GDP figures also confirms that the rebound in the economy was real,” he added.

“A GDP growth of 5.7% in 2024 has been the highest since 2020. It follows the recovery in 2023 when the economy grew by 2.9% above a target of 1.5%.

“The economy defied all odds and posted this appreciable growth despite coming from a global economic crisis between 2020 and 2022.”

Dr Boako further noted that the NDC, since assuming government, has been claiming the economy was badly managed by the NPP.

“These developments showed that the economy was doing well before the NDC took over. We have also picked up intelligence about data manipulation in the fiscal outturn for 2024 as the Minister for Finance is trying hard to manufacture a narrative to support the NDC’s baseless claims of inheriting a bad economy. The Minister should be candid enough to report only verified data as his primary responsibility is to make payments only based on verified claims,” he said.

The post Illegal mining might have contributed hugely to the economic growth – Mussa Dankwah first appeared on 3News.

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