Ghana’s economy slipped into recession on Friday as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted for a second straight quarter in the three months through September, even as the government eased restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
GDP declined 1.1 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, government statistician Samuel Kobina Annim told reporters in the capital, Accra.
That compares with a contraction of 3.2 percent in the second quarter.
The data may put the central bank’s projection of 2 percent to 2.5 percent growth this year at risk.
West Africa’s largest economy after Nigeria is struggling to rebound from the impact of a virus-related slump, as many businesses remain shut.
Quarter-on-quarter GDP contracted 0.3 percent.
The economy of the world’s second-largest cocoa producer faces some uncertainty after its main opposition leader challenged the results of Dec. 7 presidential and parliamentary elections, saying his party work to get them overturned.
John Mahama, the flag-bearer for the National Democratic Congress, got 47.4 percent of total valid votes cast, trailing President Nana Akufo-Addo’s 51.6 percent, according to Ghana’s electoral commission.
