People walk on the street around Kwame Nkrumah circle in Accra, Ghana, December 2, 2016. Picture taken December 2, 2016. REUTERS/Luc Gnago/File Photo

ACCRA, March 10 (Reuters) – Ghana’s economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter of last year, dragged down by a weaker performance of the industry sector, the country’s statistics agency said on Monday.

Gross domestic product grew by 3.6% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, the data showed, compared with a revised 7.5% in the third quarter.

Economic growth for the year 2024 was at 5.7%.

Growth in the fourth quarter was mostly driven by the services sector, which grew 6.3%, and agriculture, which rose 2.9%, government statistician Samuel Kobina Annim said, adding that the industry sector only expanded by 0.2%.

The West African country is emerging from its deepest economic crisis in a generation, with turmoil in the vital cocoa and gold industries.

Ghana’s consumer inflation rate slowed for the second month in a row in February, to 23.1% from 23.5% in January.

However, it remains well above Bank of Ghana’s 8% target with a margin of error of 2 percentage points either side.

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President John Dramani Mahama, who returned to office in January, has promised to cut taxes and expenditure to attract investments and lift growth.

(Reporting by Christian Akorlie; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Bate Felix and Toby Chopra)