Also the latest data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirms this AfDB analysis. Peter Allum, who led an IMF team in Accra last week, concludes that the Ghanaian "economy grew by 4.1 percent in 2009, with a pick-up to the 5–6 percent range projected for 2010." The IMF even has improved its GDP growth projection since its last analysis, in June. At that point, Ghana's GDP was expected to grow by around 4.5 percent this year. Allum said that the strong growth was "led by a recovery in construction and strong business services activity" ahead of the projected start of oil production in Ghana around end of 2010.
The sound growth, substantially higher than population growth, means that the Ghanaian per capita economy also has grown. Even in 2009, GDP per capita grew by 1.6 percent, and in the typical year, it grows by 3 percent. The IMF analysis is fairly optimistic for Ghana in the upcoming oil economy, foreseeing substantial GDP per capita growth and poverty reduction. With a new Petroleum Law and Oil Revenue Management bill, Ghana was preparing for this new era.
Especially state revenues were foreseen to increase, and public spending could be extended to new areas. But the IMF already was seeing negative tendencies of overspending by Accra authorities. Allum had observed "substantially larger budget deficits and public borrowing than envisaged" in the 2011 budget.
