Ghana’s economy ranked 8th biggest in Africa

Ghana’s economy has ranked 73^rd in the world in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the year 2019 making it the 8^th largest economy in Africa. The 2020 figures are not expected for another one year.

According to the World Bank, Ghana’s economy stood at about US$67 billion in size in 2019, making it the 8^th biggest economy on the African continent.

The country’s economy was also ranked 141^st in the world in terms of GDP per capita and the 143^rd most complex economy, according to the Bretton Wood institution’s Economic Complexity Index.

The wide disparity between Ghana’s ranking by size of the economy and its ranking by per capita is worrying economists as it implies that residents are not benefitting enough from the economy compared averagely with the other countries of the world. The rankings also imply that Ghana’s economy is not complex enough to match its size; indeed, it still relies on primary commodities – gold, cocoas and crude oil – for most of its export revenues leaving it vulnerable to external price shocks. It is also over-reliant on imports for most of its consumer goods and industrial inputs.

On the upside however, Ghana is one of the faster growing economies in the world, ranking 34^th with its 5.6 percent growth rate in 2019 and 46^th for its five-year average growth rate of 4.6 percent over the period 2015 to 2019. 

Due to the adverse economic impacts of Covid-19, the total value of goods and services in the economy shrank to about US$63 billion dollars last year, though there are expectations that it will expand to US$70 billion by the end of this year as economic growth resumes.

The economy is expected to grow at a rate of 4.6 percent this year according to the World Bank (although government expects it to grow even faster, by 5.0 percent) and this will be driven by sub sectors such as Information and Communication, Real Estate, Crops and Livestock. 

Presently, the services sector is the biggest sector with an estimated size of a little above GH¢172 billion. It is followed by industry which is about GH¢140 billion in size and agriculture which is estimated at about GH¢73.8 billion.

Globally, the United States of America is the biggest economy with a size of US$21.43 trillion.

China and Japan follow in 2^nd and 3^rd with economic sizes of about US$14 and US$5 trillion dollars respectively.

But beyond the fundamental economic indicators, Ghana has been ranked across a pot-pourri of indicators covering economic performance, fiscal performance, international trade performance, competitiveness of the operating environment for business, socio-economic loving standards and the likes.

The world’s 10 biggest economies in 2020

Country	Nominal GDP (US$)		Per Capita Income (US$)
USA	21.43 trillion		65,298
China	14.34 trillion		10,262
Japan	5.08 trillion		40,247
Germany	3.86 trillion		46,455
India	2.87trillion		2,100
United Kingdom	2.83 trillion		42,300
France	2.72 trillion		40,493
Italy	2.0 trillion		33,228
Brazil	1.84 trillion		8,718
Canada	1.74 trillion		46,195

Ghana World Economy Ranking:

Find below Ghana’s rankings in the world by an array of indicators Economic indicators provided by The World Bank. Freedom indexes by The Heritage and Cato Institute. Human development data from the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime. Rankings are out of 230 countries.

Gross Domestic Product & Income

Stat	Ghana	Rank
GDP	$65.6B	73
GDP growth, 1 year	5.6%	34
GDP growth, 5-years average	4.5%	46
Population	26.9M	50
GDP per capita	$2.2k	142
GDP per capita growth	3.96%	39
Purchasing Power Parity conversion factor	2.13	113
Price level ratio of PPP conversion factor GDP to market exchange rate	0.46	101
GDP per capita, PPP adjusted	$6.5k	136
GNI, Atlas method	$63.4B	73
GNI per capita	$2.1k	138
GNI, PPP adjusted	$138.5B	78
GNI per capita, PPP adjusted	$4.7k	140

Financial system and Human development

Stat	Ghana	Rank
Income Tax Rate	35%	131
Corporate Tax Rate	25%	99
Inflation, consumer prices	9.8%	170
Inflation, GDP deflator	10.2%	162
Unemployment	6.7%	118
Economic Freedom Index	59.4	113
Personal Freedom Index	7.64	64
Human Freedom Index	7.21	66
Property Rights Index	52.5	103
Judical Effectiveness Index	46.1	82
Business Freedom Index	58.4	117
Fiscal Health Index	35.6	146
Labor Freedom Index	59.3	93
Investment Freedom Index	70	53
Financial Freedom Index	60	44
Trade Freedom Index	63.8	145
Monetary Freedom Index	68.9	152
Government Spending Index	88.1	26
Tax Burden Index	78.4	88
Government Integrity Index	32.2	119
Corruption Perceptions Index	41	95
Life expectancy at birth, years	63.5	166
Suicide mortality rate, per 100,000 people	5.4	73
Mortality caused by road traffic injury, per 100,000 people	24.9	153
Intentional homicides, per 100,000 people	2.1	74
International tourism, number of arrivals	897k	119

Government debt & reserves

Stat	Ghana	Rank
Central government debt, % of GDP	59.6%	70
External debt stocks, % of GNI	36.3%	74
External debt stocks	$23.3B	38
Short-term debt, % of total reserves	57.7%	25
Total debt service, % of exports and primary income	9.4%	72
Adjusted net savings including particulate emission damage, % of GNI	-8.4%	142
Gross savings, % of GDP	21%	89
Gross capital formation, % of GDP	14.9%	159
Total reserves including gold	$6.3B	87
Foreign direct investment net inflows	$3B	51

Exports, imports and economic structure

Stat	Ghana	Rank
Exports of goods and services, % of GDP	35.3%	101
Imports of goods and services, % of GDP	36.4%	119
Current account balance (balance of payments)	-$2B	134
Revenue excluding grants, % of GDP	27.2%	63
Grants excluding technical cooperation, BoP	$713.6M	35
Personal remittances received	$3.5B	38
Industry including construction value added, % of GDP	31.5%	52
Agriculture, forestry and fishing value added, % of GDP	18.3%	42
Government Expenditure, % of GDP	20%	152

by: Toma Imirhe

Source: Goldstreetbusiness.com