| Economy - overview | Well endowed with natural resources, Ghana has roughly twice the per capita output of the poorest countries in West Africa. Even so, Ghana remains heavily dependent on international financial and technical assistance. Gold, timber, and cocoa production are major sources of foreign exchange. The domestic economy continues to revolve around subsistence agriculture, which accounts for 37% of GDP and employs 60% of the work force, mainly small landholders. Ghana opted for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) program in 2002, but was included in a G-8 debt relief program decided upon at the Gleneagles Summit in July 2005. Priorities under its current $38 million Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) include tighter monetary and fiscal policies, accelerated privatization, and improvement of social services. Receipts from the gold sector helped sustain GDP growth in 2006 along with record high prices for Ghana's largest cocoa crop to date. Ghana received a Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant in 2006, which aims to assist in transforming Ghana's agricultural export sector. |
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| GDP | 0.8% (2006 est.) |
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| GDP - real growth rate | 6% (2006 est.) |
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| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 37.3%
industry: 25.3%
services: 37.5% (2006 est.) |
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| Population below poverty line | 31.4% (1992 est.) |
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Household income or consumption
by percentage share | lowest 10%: 2.2%
highest 10%: 30.1% (1999) |
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Distribution of family income
- Gini index | 30 (1999) |
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| Labor force | 10.87 million (2006 est.) |
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| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 60%
industry: 15%
services: 25% (1999 est.) |
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| Unemployment rate | 20% (1997 est.) |
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| Budget | revenues: $3.616 billion
expenditures: $3.947 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.) |
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| Industries | mining, lumbering, light manufacturing, aluminum smelting, food processing, cement, small commercial ship building |
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| Industrial production growth rate | 3.8% (2000 est.) |
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Electricity -
production | 6.489 billion kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
production by source | fossil fuel: 5%
hydro: 95%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001) |
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Electricity -
consumption | 7.095 billion kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
exports | 900 million kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
imports | 1.96 billion kWh (2004) |
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| Oil - production | 7,477 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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| Oil - consumption | 44,000 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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| Oil - exports | NA bbl/day |
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| Oil - imports | NA bbl/day |
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| Oil - proved reserves | 8.255 million bbl (1 January 2002) |
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| Agriculture - products | cocoa, rice, coffee, cassava (tapioca), peanuts, corn, shea nuts, bananas; timber |
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| Exports | $3.286 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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| Exports - commodities | gold, cocoa, timber, tuna, bauxite, aluminum, manganese ore, diamonds |
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| Exports - partners | Netherlands 12.5%, UK 8.3%, US 6.7%, Belgium 5.8%, France 5.6%, Germany 4.4% (2005) |
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| Imports | $5.666 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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| Imports - commodities | capital equipment, petroleum, foodstuffs |
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| Imports - partners | Nigeria 15.2%, China 12.5%, US 6.3%, UK 5.2%, South Africa 4.5%, Brazil 4.1%, Netherlands 4% (2005) |
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| Debt - external | $3.546 billion (2006 est.) |
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| Economic aid - recipient | $6.9 billion (1999) |
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| Currency code | GHC |
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| Exchange rates | cedis per US dollar - 9,174.8 (2006), 9,072.5 (2005), 9,004.6 (2004), 8,677.4 (2003), 7,932.7 (2002) |
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| Fiscal year | calendar year |
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