Focus on inclusive growth policies – gov’t told

Professor Felix Asante, Director of the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER), has urged government to pursue an employment-centred economic growth strategy that will ensure that employment expands along with production.

He said the next development strategy for Ghana should focus on policies of inclusive growth from 2014 with the aim of ensuring sustainable economic growth and social cohesion.

Prof. Asante, who was speaking at the launch of the “State of the Ghanaian Economy Report (SGER), 2012 in Accra, suggested that sustainable exploitation of Ghana’s natural resource endowments in agriculture, minerals, oil and gas, should be supported by strategic investment in human capital, infrastructure, science, technology and innovation.

He called for rapid infrastructural and human development, as well as application of science, technology and innovation to enhance the creation of employment and income earning opportunities.

The SGER, the 22nd edition in the series of publications since 1991, provides a detailed assessment of how the various sectors of the economy, notably agriculture, industry and services, performed in the past year.

The report indicated that although Ghana made phenomenal strides in economic growth with a record high Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 14.4 per cent in 2011, it failed to sustain the momentum, thus registering a lower growth rate for 2012.

It said that economic growth in 2012 was 7.2 per cent, representing real GDP of GH¢30.1 billion and a nominal GDP of GH¢73.1 billion. The report said the strongest performance of the economy in 2012 came from services sector compared to the industrial sector in the previous year.

It said the actual growth of the services sector was 10.2 percent, 2.5 percentage points more than the target while the industrial sector grew at a rate of 7 percent, which is below the target of 15.8 percent.

The report said the fastest growing subsector in the services sector was the financial intermediation subsector growing at the rate of 22 percent. It said hotels and restaurants grew at 9.2 percent, transport and storage 6.5 percent and information and communication at 6.4 percent.

The report said the agricultural sector has performed poorly since 2006 even though in 2012, actual growth exceeded the previous year’s growth rate by 0.5 percentage points. It said Ghana’s short-term outlook looks quite positive considering the current projected growth rate of 8 percent, which could be sustained with strong investment in the oil and gas sector, public infrastructure and favourable commodity prices.