BY NADIA NTIAMOAH
Ghana’s economy maintained a strong growth trajectory in the second quarter of 2026, expanding by 6.0%, although the pace represented a marginal slowdown compared with the 6.1% recorded during the same period in 2025.
The latest performance brings cumulative economic growth for the first half of 2026 to 6.2%, pointing to continued resilience despite uneven performances across the major sectors of the economy.
The figures, released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), also show that economic activity outside the oil sector remained relatively robust. Non-oil GDP grew by 5.4% in the second quarter, while non-oil economic growth for the first six months of 2026 reached 5.9%.
The performance was largely supported by the services sector, particularly information and communications technology (ICT), as well as a strong recovery in oil and gas production and a significant increase in investment.
The services sector continued to dominate Ghana’s economic expansion, recording 8.0% growth in the second quarter and accounting for 57.6% of overall GDP growth during the period.
At the heart of the services sector’s performance was ICT, which emerged as the strongest-performing economic activity. The subsector recorded an impressive 30.9% growth and alone accounted for 41.5% of total GDP growth in the second quarter.
The figures highlight the increasingly important role of digital and technology-related activities in Ghana’s economy, with ICT emerging as a major contributor to overall economic expansion.
The strong services performance also indicates that Ghana’s growth is increasingly being supported by activities beyond traditional commodity and primary-sector production.
The industrial sector recorded 4.3% growth in the second quarter, with oil and gas production providing a major boost to the sector.
Oil and gas activity expanded by 21.4% during the period, representing a significant rebound and contributing to the improvement in industrial performance.
Despite the strong performance of oil and gas, however, industrial growth remained below that of the services sector. This suggests that the expansion within industry was not uniform across its various activities.
The disparity also points to the continued challenge of ensuring that growth in Ghana is spread more evenly across the wider productive economy rather than being concentrated in a handful of high-performing activities.
Agriculture struggles to keep pace
Agriculture recorded comparatively modest growth of 3.9% in the second quarter, making it one of the weaker-performing major sectors during the period.
The sector’s performance was particularly affected by a sharp contraction in fishing, which recorded a 24.7% decline.
The weak performance in fishing and the relatively slower growth of agriculture stand in contrast to the strong expansion recorded in services, ICT and oil and gas.
Beyond sectoral performance, the latest GDP figures also point to a significant increase in investment and domestic economic activity.
Investment surged by 53.0% in the second quarter, while domestic demand expanded by 11.2%.
The increase in investment could provide additional momentum for economic activity by supporting production, business expansion and other forms of capital formation.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, seasonally adjusted real GDP also increased by 1.4%, indicating that the economy continued to expand compared with the preceding quarter.
The second-quarter figures provide evidence of continued momentum in Ghana’s economy, with first-half GDP growth reaching 6.2% and non-oil growth standing at 5.9%.
However, the composition of the growth remains an important consideration. Services, led by the exceptional performance of ICT, together with oil and gas and investment, accounted for much of the expansion, while agriculture and some industrial activities recorded more subdued performances.
