Editorial: Strongest Q2 growth since 2019

Ghana’s economy maintained its expansionary trajectory in second-quarter (Q2) 2025 – posting the highest second-quarter momentum since 2019, data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) have shown.

Q2, 2025 posted a quarter-on-quarter growth rate of 1.4 percent,  though marginally below the 1.6 percent growth recorded in the first quarter which occurred despite weakening in the oil and gas sector – highlighting the services and agriculture sectors’ increasing role in sustaining output and balancing industry slowdown.

Government Statistician Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu observed that the quarterly trend demonstrates  the economy is not only expanding year-on-year but also consistently producing more goods and services relative to the preceding quarter.

“Even though the Q2 growth rate of 1.4 percent is lower than the Q1 growth of 1.6 percent, quarter-on-quarter growth is actually the highest since 2019,” he explained.

The overall economy grew by GH¢63.4billion to reach GH¢321billion in nominal terms versus GH¢258.9billion for the comparable quarter of 2024. Non-oil GDP growth was even stronger at 7.8 percent – above its 10-year average of 5.5 percent and highlighting the increasing contribution of non-extractive activities to national output.

The services sector (GH¢125.2billion in nominal terms) remained the largest contributor to growth, expanding by 9.9 percent and maintaining its 41.9 percent share of GDP at basic prices.

Information and communication grew by 21.3 percent, contributing 24.1 percent to the overall GDP growth of 6.3 percent. Education, health and finance also recorded strong growth rates, combining with ICT and other services to account for more than half the national expansion.

Agriculture (GH¢74.1billion in nominal terms) consolidated its role as a stabilising sector, growing by 5.2 percent compared with 3.5 percent a year earlier. Crops, which account for 83 percent of agricultural output, rose by 5.6 percent while livestock grew by 5.9 percent. Fishing slowed sharply to 0.9 percent and cocoa expanded by 1.2 percent, reflecting mixed performances across subsectors.

Industry’s (GH¢99.1billion in nominal terms) growth slowed to 2.3 percent – down from 12.2 percent in the same quarter last year, largely due to a contraction of 22.5 percent in oil and gas.

Petroleum revenues fell by 56 percent in first-half 2025 to US$370.6million, a marked  reversal from the US$840.8million recorded during the same period a year earlier.

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