Analysis of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product from 1960 - 2019

Abstract

The most popular metric for assessing or predicting global economic progress is the GDP. The objective of this report was to analyze the GDP of Ghana from the period 1960 – 2019. Secondary data was obtained, and trend analysis was done using the linear, quadratic, and exponential trend models to determine which model best fits the dataset. Trend analysis is a technique for examining and forecasting the movements of an item based on current and historical data. The results from the trend analysis showed that the exponential trend model had the lowest Mean Absolute Percent Error (MAPE), Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD), and Mean Square Deviation (MSD). When compared to the other models, the exponential trend model fits the dataset better, which is why it was chosen to forecast Ghana's GDP. The forecast showed that Ghana's GDP is expected to grow in the coming years to about $77 billion by 2026. Agriculture is considered as the backbone of Ghana and the country imports majority if its fertilizer from Russia. The challenges the Ghanaian economy is currently facing due to inflation, the global pandemic (COVID-19), and the Russia- Ukraine conflict could have an impact on the country’ economic growth. Moreover, a change in leadership in the coming 2024 presidential election, could also have an impact on the projection. There are both positive and negative effects due to changes in leadership on economic growth. Keywords: GDP, linear, quadratic, exponential, forecast, economic DOI: 10.7176/JESD/14-2-07 Publication date: January 31 st 2023