The Minister of Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, has revealed that Ghana’s 5.7 percent economic growth recorded in 2024 was largely driven by gold mining, particularly illegal small-scale mining, commonly known as galamsey.
This was revealed during the presentation of the 2025 Budget Statement in Parliament, where Dr. Ato Forson outlined the key growth drivers, with a strong emphasis on the mining and quarrying sector.
Citing provisional 2024 GDP statistics published by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) on March 10, 2025, Dr. Ato Forson noted that the mining and quarrying sector, which includes both legal and illegal gold mining (galamsey), recorded a remarkable growth rate of 19.1%.
This surge in activity played a pivotal role in the overall economic expansion.
“Mr. Speaker, provisional 2024 GDP statistics published by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) on 10th March 2025 shows that overall real GDP grew by 5.7% in 2024, compared to the growth rate of 3.1% recorded over the same period in 2023. The key driver of this growth was largely mining and quarrying, mainly gold, including (illegal mining) galamsey, which recorded a growth of 19.1%. But galamsey growth cannot be sustainable,” stated.
