Five critical sectors govt must watch in 2025
International accounting and audit firm, Deloitte, has identified five major sectors of the Ghanaian economy with enormous growth potential for the country in the coming year.
These are; Mining and quarrying; Information and communication; Construction; Finance and insurance: and agriculture.
Consequently, the firm in its report dubbed, “A Sneak Preview of 2025: What lies ahead”, is urging the incoming administration under President-elect, John Dramani Mahama, to critically monitor those sectors as he seeks to restore a battered economy riddled with debt, massive unemployment and low domestic revenue generation.
For the specifics, the firm identified that, the Mining and Quarrying grew significantly by 14.8% in Q2 2024 from 1.4% a year ago.
This is positive because “Mining exports from gold is a major source of export proceeds and forex for Ghana,” it said.
As a result, the firm is of the view that government investments and expansion plans will spur growth in this sector, a position other economic analysts hold.
In the Information and Communication Technology sector, Deloitte said, this is one of the fastest growing sectors in Ghana, although it recorded a sharp slowdown in its pace of growth to 12.8% in Q2 2024 from 25.1% in Q2 2023.
However, it said sector linkages and the growing use of technology and Artificial Intelligence make it a significant growth driver the government must closely watch to reverse its dwindling fortunes.
In the area of construction, the sector grew by 8.4% in Q2 2024 from a contraction of -11.7% in Q2 2023.
The government is increasing its investments in infrastructure with programmes such as the Economic Roads Improvement Programme (ERIP).
Despite that, analysts still believes that there is more room for improvement in the road sub-sector in particular where investments must result in not only road construction but quality to stand the test of time.
For Finance and Insurance, the sector expanded by 7.6% in Q2 2024 from 0.4% in Q2 2023.
The sector, it said, provides critical services to economic agents and supports economic growth, a reason it should not be overlooked.
The World Bank approved a $250 million International Development Association (IDA) credit for a five-year Ghana Financial Stability Project to support the financial sector that has been impacted by the government’s domestic debt exchange programme.
Unfortunately however, this is yet to be ratified by Parliament but experts trust that, it will be a priority item on the business of Parliament before the Eight parliament expires on January 7.
Agriculture according to the report, grew by 5.4% in Q2 2024 from 4.4% in Q2 2023.
That, it maintained, has a far-reaching impact on the overall economy and livelihoods.
It said; “Ongoing government initiatives such as the enhanced Planting for Food and Jobs 2.0 programme will boost transparency and efficiency along the value chain.
The government also has Economic Enclaves projects under its GhanaCARES programme, which are targeted at attracting private sector investment.”