Ghana lowers 2016 GDP growth forecast to 4.1 pct

Customers peruse goods at Makola market in Accra, Ghana, June 15, 2015. Picture taken June 15. REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko·Reuters· (Reuters)

ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana has cut its 2016 economic growth forecast to 4.1 percent from 5.4 percent due to lower export prices and irregular oil production, Finance Minister Seth Terkper told Reuters on Monday. Oil output was halted between March and May at the offshore Jubilee field due to a breakdown on a production ship, and the country lost millions of dollars in revenue. It has since restarted at a lower rate. "These developments have taken into consideration the release of revised GDP figures for 2015, revision of gold production forecasts for 2016-18 and the shutdown of the (oil production vessel) FPSO Kwame Nkrumah," Terkper said. GDP growth should pick up between July and September as a second oil field, TEN, comes onstream to offset the shortfall from Jubilee, he said. Ghana, which also produces cocoa and gold, is following an International Monetary Fund programme to restore fiscal balance and spur growth, which dropped to 3.9 percent in 2015 from 14.4 percent in 2011, a year after it began producing oil. Non-oil GDP was expected to grow by 4.6 percent. (Reporting by Kwasi Kpodo; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Mark Trevelyan)

Advertisement