ACCRA, June 18 (Reuters) – Ghana’s economy grew 4.7% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024, the country’s statistics agency said on Tuesday.

Samuel Kobina Annim, the government statistician said the first quarter growth rate was driven by strong performance in industry and services sectors.

The gold-, oil- and cocoa-producer and its bondholders will restart talks this week to hash out a debt restructuring deal on $13 billion of international bonds.

The west African nation defaulted on most of its $30 billion in external debt in 2022, weighed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and rapid global interest rate hikes that boosted borrowing costs.

(Reporting by Christian Akorlie; Writing by Maxwell Akalaare Adombila Editing by Bate Felix)