Ghana's economy contracted by 1.1 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter (July to September) of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the same period of 2019, the growth was 5.6 per cent.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate without oil and gas (Non-Oil GDP) for third quarter 2020 was -0.4 per cent which compared to the same period in 2019 with a growth rate of 4.6 per cent.

The Agriculture sector recorded the highest growth of 8.3 per cent while the Industry and Services sectors contracted 5.1 per cent and 1.1 per cent respectively.

Professor Samuel Annim, the Government Statistician, said 31,902 businesses were still closed because of the pandemic.

The drivers of the negative growth during the period were the mining and quarrying sub-sector and Trade, Repair of Vehicle, Household Goods.

Mining and Quarrying contracted by 16.9 per cent while Trade, Repair of Vehicle fell 7.7 per cent.

Hotel and Restaurants sub-sector experienced the highest contraction of 62.1 per cent but contributed less to the fall in GDP.

On the other hand, the Information and Communication sub-sector recorded an expansion of 51.3 per cent while fishing grew by 20.4 per cent.

Real estate was up 12.2 per cent and Electricity went up 11.6 per cent during the period.