Ghana Economy
Economy - overviewWell endowed with natural resources, Ghana has roughly twice the per capita output of the poorer 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 35% 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. Policy priorities include tighter monetary and fiscal policies, accelerated privatization, and improvement of social services. Receipts from the gold sector should help sustain GDP growth in 2004. Inflation should ease, but remain a major internal problem.
GDP
purchasing power parity - $44.44 billion (2003 est.)
GDP - real growth rate
4.7% (2003 est.)
GDP - per capita
purchasing power parity - $2,200 (2003 est.)
GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 35.4%
industry: 25.4%
services: 39.2% (2003 est.)
Investment
24.5% of GDP (2003)
Population below poverty line
31.4% (1992 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 2.2%
highest 10%: 30.1% (1999)
Distribution of family income - Gini index
40.7 (1999)
Inflation rate
26.7% (2003 est.)
Labor force
10 million (2003 est.)
Labor force - by occupation
agriculture 60%, industry 15%, services 25% (1999 est.)
Unemployment rate
20% (1997 est.)
Budget
revenues: $1.943 billion
expenditures: $2.192 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2003 est.)
Agriculture - products
cocoa, rice, coffee, cassava (tapioca), peanuts, corn, shea nuts, bananas; timber
Industries
mining, lumbering, light manufacturing, aluminum smelting, food processing
Industrial production growth rate
3.8% (2000 est.)
Electricity - production
8.801 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - consumption
8.835 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports
300 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports
950 million kWh (2001)
Oil - production
7,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption
38,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports
NA (2001)
Oil - imports
NA (2001)
Oil - proved reserves
8.255 million bbl (1 January 2002)
Natural gas - proved reserves
11.89 billion cu m (1 January 2002)
Current account balance
$110 million (2003)
Exports
$2.642 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Exports - commodities
gold, cocoa, timber, tuna, bauxite, aluminum, manganese ore, diamonds
Exports - partners
Netherlands 11.2%, UK 10.7%, France 7.7%, Germany 6.2%, Japan 5.2%, Italy 4.6%, Turkey 4.4%, US 4.3% (2003)
Imports
$3.24 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Imports - commodities
capital equipment, petroleum, foodstuffs
Imports - partners
Nigeria 13.2%, China 9.3%, UK 7.2%, US 6.1%, Germany 4.8%, France 4.5%, South Africa 4% (2003)
Reserves of foreign exchange & gold
$1.469 billion (2003)
Debt - external
$7.398 billion (2003 est.)
Currency
cedi (GHC)
Currency code
GHC
Exchange rates
cedis per US dollar - NA (2003), 7,932.7 (2002), 7,170.76 (2001), 5,455.06 (2000), 2,669.3 (1999)
