Stanbic predicts 7% GDP for Ghana

The parent company of Stanbic Bank, Standard Bank is predicting a growth rate of around 7 percent for Ghana this year.

This is down from the provisional estimate of 7.4 percent for 2013.


According to the largest bank in Africa, the high growth rate is not sustainable in the long term.


Assessing the past, present and future outlook of the Ghanaian economy, it said the high growth rate does not necessarily mean the Ghanaian economy is doing extremely well.


Head of Emerging Markets Strategist, Samir Gado told some financial journalists a while ago that it is less convinced that the agricultural growth will accelerate rapidly.


However the industrial sector is expected to increase its share of GDP if the jubilee gas pipeline comes on stream.

“Not will this boost oil and gas production but it will also further raise electricity generation. Construction growth is expected to remain robust”, Mr. Gado explained.


Earlier, Executive Director of CEPA, Dr. Joe Abbey told XYZ BUSINESS the country will be lucky to record even a 4.8 percent growth rate.


Meanwhile, Standard Bank is also projecting a Cedi depreciation of around 15 percent by the end of this year.


This means the local currency will end the year at 2.7 Cedis to the US Dollar


In a related development, the Ghana Cedi today fell to the US Dollar and all the other major foreign currencies on the interbank market.

It is trading between 2 Cedis 39 pesewas and 2 Cedis 40 pesewas to the US dollar on the interbank forex market.


It is going for 3 cedis 17 pesewas and 3 cedis 18 pesewas against the euro.


It is also trading between 3 cedis 94 pesewas and 3 cedis 95 pesewas to the British Pound.


It is however trading between 67 pesewas and 67 pesewas to the Naira.