The manufacturing sector of Ghana: are there any macroeconomic disturbances?

Abstract

The study examined the macroeconomic factors that influence performance of the manufacturing sector of Ghana using multivariate time series approach. It was found out that manufacturing production and real gross domestic product per capita were inversely related. In the long-run, macroeconomic variables such as private sector credit, labour and real exchange rate were unfavourable factors that weigh down the manufacturing sector while in the short-run, the past years consumer price index and real exchange rate were unfavourable to the manufacturing production. Finally, it is recommended that private sector credit to the manufacturing sector should be improved, training of labour force should be skilled and technical oriented and policies to stabilise the real exchange rate should be put in place to halt the down trending in manufacturing production