ACCRA: Ghana's gross domestic product growth in 2016 GDP stood at a provisional figure of 3.5 percent year-on-year, down from 3.9 percent in 2015, acting government statistician Baah Wadieh told a news conference on Wednesday.
For years, Ghana's economy grew at 8 percent annually on the back of its gold, oil and cocoa exports. But it has slowed sharply since 2014, in part because of lower global commodities prices and a fiscal crisis.
The new government of President Nana Akufo-Addo said in March the $40 billion economy would grow at 6.3 percent in 2017. The statistics office said GDP growth for the fourth quarter of last year stood at 4.1 percent as against 3.9 percent for the same period in 2015.
Akufo-Addo's New Patriotic Party says it aims to achieve double digit growth for every year of its four-year rule, helped by increased oil and gas production.
Ghana is following a $918-million International Monetary Fund programme to reduce inflation and the deficit and restore fiscal balance and the government is holding talks with the Fund in Washington over the deal.
Producer price inflation rose to 6.0 percent year-on-year in March, from 5.4 percent the month before, the statistics office said, citing higher petroleum and gold prices. The figure is down sharply from late 2014, when it stood at more than 48 percent.
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