Ghana is the eighth largest economy in Africa, with a GDP of $72.4 billion dollars, according to the World Bank.

According to the World Bank’s latest study, “African countries with the highest Gross Domestic Product over time,” Ghana has the eighth largest economy in Africa.

The total monetary or market worth of all commodities and services generated in an economy in 2020 was reflected in the report.

The country’s growth rate has improved dramatically from 2005, when it was outside the top ten largest economies in Africa.

With a GDP of $72.4 billion, Ghana’s economy has been steadily growing for the past 15 years, fueled mostly by oil production, which is now a significant sector of the economy.

“While the top five slots on this ranking have been relatively stable over the last three decades, the rest of the top eight, as our chart illustrates, have experienced more significant variations.” Libya, for example, was able to get entry.

Ghana was one of the few African countries that witnessed a marginal growth of 0.4% last year, after the global economy was battered by COVID-19.

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It’s expected to grow by 4.8% in 2021 and an average of 5% for the next four years, after a swift recovery in the hotels and restaurants (hospitality) as well as manufacturing sub-sectors and a boost in exports.

Some market watchers, economists question impact of growth rate

Despite this impressive growth rate of the economy in the past years, many economists, analysts and market watchers have questioned the impact of the country’s high growth rate on real jobs and infrastructural development.

They claim a better way of assessing the real impact of economic growth is through indicators such as Happiness Index and Consumer Confidence Index.

Nigeria is biggest economy in Africa

Meanwhile, with a total GDP of $432.3 billion, Nigeria is the biggest economy on the African continent in 2020.

It was followed by Egypt and South Africa in 2^nd and 3^rd positions respectively.

“Nigeria’s first place is largely attributable to its rapidly expanding financial sector, which grew from 1% of the total GDP in 2001 to 10% in 2018, and its role as one of the world leaders in petroleum exports. The growing tech hub of Lagos, the second-largest metropolitan area in Africa and among the largest in the world, is also likely to further bolster Nigeria’s growth in the coming years, even though the divide between the part of the population living in slums without access to basic sanitation and its upper class making the city one of the most expensive in the world is likely to grow as well. This is also reflected in its comparably low GDP per capita of $2,100. When considering this indicator, Nigeria doesn’t even make the top 10 in Africa.”

Of the 54 countries in Africa, only four countries made the top 50 of the nations with the highest GDP in the world.

The top spots on this list are reserved for the US, China, Japan and Germany, whose residents generate a combined GPD of $45 trillion, a whopping 50% of the global GDP.