Coronavirus: Ghana’s key hydrocarbon sector will be worst hit – EIU report

Ghana’s key hydrocarbon sector will be mostly affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to UK-based, Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

According to a report by the research firm, the sharp plunge in global oil demand and prices will weigh heavily on productivity activity in the energy, oil and gas sectors of the country.

“The key hydrocarbons sector will be badly hit. In addition to the ongoing operational difficulties facing Tullow Oil, a UK based oil company, at the Jubilee and Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme oilfields, the sharp plunge in global oil demand and prices will weigh heavily on activity”, it said.

The EIU added that the decline in the hydrocarbons sector will have spillover effects on the wider Ghanaian economy, by negatively affecting industrial production, infrastructure investment and supplementary services.

It also identified that private consumption is likely to weaken, at the same time.

Meanwhile, the EIU has projected that Ghana’s economy will contract by 1 percent this year which opposes to the 1.5 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate forecast by the government.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank have on the other hand affirmed a 2 percent growth rate projected by rating agency Fitch.