Ghana’s economy recorded a 7.5% year-on-year growth in January 2026, driven largely by strong performance in the services sector, according to the latest Monthly Indicator of Economic Growth (MIEG) released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
The provisional MIEG index for January 2026 stood at 119.2, up from 110.8 recorded in January 2025, reflecting continued expansion in economic activity across agriculture, industry, and services.
Presenting the figures, Government Statistician, Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu, explained that the MIEG is a high-frequency indicator that “provides monthly information on economic performance” and serves as “an early indicator of quarterly GDP growth trends, providing timely insight into the direction of the economy.”
The services sector recorded the strongest performance, expanding by 9.6% in January 2026 compared to 7.7% in the same period in 2025.
According to the report, “the services economy continues an upward trend from January 2023 (98.3) to January 2026 (119.2),” driven mainly by growth in education and information and communication subsectors.
The sector accounted for 54.3% of the overall 7.5% growth recorded in January, making it the largest contributor to economic expansion.
The industry sector grew by 7.2% in January 2026, down from 9.7% recorded in January 2025, indicating a slowdown in growth momentum.
The report attributed the moderation to “a slowdown in oil and gas within the mining and quarrying activities, compared to the same period last year,” with the sector contributing 29% to overall growth.
Agriculture recorded the lowest growth among the three sectors, expanding by 4.5% in January 2026, compared to 9.3% in January 2025.
The GSS noted that this “indicates that the agriculture sector experienced a decline in performance compared to January 2025, reflecting a moderation in growth momentum,” with the sector contributing 14% to total growth.
The report added that agriculture, largely driven by crops and livestock, has maintained an upward trend from January 2023 to January 2026.
Despite the overall expansion, the GSS highlighted that the pace of growth slowed compared to the same period last year.
“The provisional MIEG estimate is 7.5% for January 2026, compared to 8.2% in January 2025. This shows that the pace of the year-on-year growth in output slowed down as compared to the same period in 2025,” the report stated.
The Ghana Statistical Service explained that the MIEG aligns with quarterly national accounts and should be interpreted with caution since it uses early data and is more volatile than GDP figures.
It noted that the indicator “is released earlier than the quarterly GDP and uses the first available data sources,” making it less detailed but useful in tracking the direction of the economy.
Metrotvonline
