Business Analyst - June 23

Thursday, June 23, 2022
Economy grows by
3.3% in quarter 1, 2022
GHAnA’S economy
slowdown in
growth in the first
quarter of this
year, compared to
the same period last year, provisional
data from the Ghana
Statistical Service has revealed.
the economy recorded 3.3%
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
growth rate, which was aided
by some marginal expansion in
the Services and Agriculture
sectors.
In actual fact, this is the
lowest growth rate recorded,
post CovID-19. In the same period
of 2021, the growth was
3.6%.
GDP growth rate without
oil and gas (non-oil GDP) for
first quarter of 2022 was 3.7%
which compares to the same
period in 2021 with a growth
rate of 5.3%.
According to Government
Statistician, Professor Samuel
Kobina Anim, the Agriculture
sector led the growth rate, expanding
by 5.6%, followed by
Services with a growth rate of
3.7% and industry with a GDP
of 1.3%.
the Fishing sector recorded
the highest growth rate of
26.1% in the Agriculture sector,
followed by Livestock with 5.5%
and Crops, 5.2%.
Forestry and Logging contracted
by 0.5%
Within the Services sector,
Information & Communication
led the expansion, growing
by 26.6%. transport and
Storage (6.4%), Hotel and
restaurants (5.3%), Finance &
Insurance (4.2%), other Personal
Service Activities (3.1%)
and trade, repair of vehicle,
Household Goods (2.3%) followed
suit.
the sub-sectors that contracted
were Professional, Administrative
& Support (-12.8),
Public Administration & Defence,
Social Security (-9.8%),
real Estate (-2.6%), Education (-
2.0%) and Health & Social Work
(-1.0%).
For industry, Water Supply,
Sewerage, Waste Management
& remediation Activities
(25.4%) and Electricity (15.9%)
were the sectors that expanded
significantly. Manufacturing
grew by 2.1%.
Construction was the only
sector that contracted by 2.0%.
the GDP estimate at current
prices in purchaser’s value
for the 1st quarter of 2022 was
estimated at ¢139.39 billion,
compared to GH¢115.69 billion
in the 1st quarter of 2021.
GDP sectoral shares
According to the GSS, the
Services sector continue to remain
the largest sector of the
Ghanaian economy in the first
quarter of 2022 with a share of
45% of GDP at basic prices.
the GDP share of Industry
and Agriculture were 32% percent
and 23% respectively.
“Let's leverage
on TVET to abate
Unemployment
menace”
An advocate of the technical
vocational Education
and training (tvEt)
who doubles as the Proprietor
of Star of Africa
Montessori Academy,Mr.
Afful Manu Benjamin,
has hinted that focusing
on the technical and vocational
Education training(tvEt)
will be the
panacea for reducing unemployment
in the country.
According to the Proprietor,
the Ghanaian
dream of transforming
the economy through job
creation though good,
should not focus only on
reading and writing form
of education.
He acknowledged that
much as the reading and
writing was good, not
every student would be
hence the need for an alternative
to cater for the
remaining once at the
same time.
He, however, indicated
that though most Ghanaians
may be used to the
theoretical but lack the
basic job skills, hence the
increasing unemployment
challenges in the
country.
Shedding light on the
overall benefits on the
subject matter in an interview
with Daily Analyst,
he stressed the
urgent need for tvEt initiative
to be incorporated
into the transformational
agenda of the country as a
measure to deal with the
youth unemployment
gaps within the labour
force.
the businessman
could not understand
why leaders and stakeholders
have not thought
of placing tvEt education
in the centre job creation
yet but was hopeful that
if finally done, would create
the needed skills.
NSS acquires 20,000 acres
for commercial farming
tHE national Service Scheme
(nSS) has acquired 20,000
acres of farmland in the Kumawu
area of the Ashanti region
for a commercial farming
estate.
Known as Kumawu Youth
Farm, the project will start
with the cultivation of maize,
rice and soya this year.
the Executive Director of
the nSS, osei Assibey Antwi,
who made this known in an
interview with the Daily
Graphic in Accra last Monday,
said: “this is going to be our
biggest farming enclave, one
of an end-to-end nature,
which starts from production
to processing in the long
term.”
the nSS is said to have
moved directions from “Mobilisation
for Deployment” to
“Deployment for Employment”,
and Mr Antwi said the
new strategic direction, his
own initiative, sought to provide
the enabling environment
for all personnel to
acquire the relevant skills that
could meet industrial demand.
Under it, young graduates
are expected to embrace entrepreneurship
by identifying
viable areas of the economy
where they could explore
their potentials.
Some of the initiatives
under the new strategic direction
are the Job Platform, SME
Accounting Aid Programme,
teaching Programme, It Solution
Programme, Communication
Project, and the Youth in
Housing Project.
the nSS had engaged former
Member of Parliament for
twifo-Atti-Morkwa and Policy
Advisor, Abraham Dwuma
odoom, as a consultant for the
Kumawu project.
the nSS already has 14
farms across the country
where it cultivates mainly
maize.
Mixed commercial farming
However, this time, the Kumawu
Youth Farm will engage
in mixed cropping and animal
husbandry.
Mr Antwi said currently
the nSS was in discussions
with agencies, including the
German Agency for International
Cooperation (GIZ) and
the MasterCard Foundation,
which had expressed interest
in making funds available for
the cultivation of the land.
Part of the land secured for
the farming project
“the object of this farm
project is to create a vibrant
agricultural enclave for the
many youths in and around
Kumawu township for sustainable
employment,” he
said.
“We intend to create about
20,000 direct and five thousand
indirect jobs under the
project,” Mr Antwi added.
SMEs Accounting
on the programme for
Small and Medium Enterprise
(SME) Accounting Aid programme,
Mr Antwi said personnel
would provide
professional accounting services
to SMEs to enhance their
financial management practices.
“We want the SMEs to engage
in proper bookkeeping to
facilitate credit accessibility,
tracking of business performance,
management of cash
flow and related activities,” he
said.
touching on It Solution,
he said the initiative sought to
equip service personnel with
relevant skills to create mobile
application softwares and become
self-employed.
Already, training programmes
are being undertaken
through an incubation
programme dubbed: Graduate
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
track, to produce highly
skilled personnel for corporate
brands.