Economy - overview Well 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 36% of GDP and employs 60% of the work force, mainly small landholders. Excessively expansionary monetary and fiscal policy prior to the 2000 elections led to accelerating inflation in early 2001. A depressed cocoa market and continued weak growth in non-traditional exports led to disappointing growth in 2001. Ghana opted for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) program in 2002.

GDP purchasing power parity - $39.4 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 3% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $1,980 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 36%
industry: 25%
services: 39% (2000 est.)

Population below poverty line 31.4% (1992 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 2.4%
highest 10%: 29.5% (1998)

Distribution of family income - Gini index 39.6 (1998)

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 25% (2001 est.)

Labor force 9 million (2000 est.)

Labor force - by occupation agriculture 60%, industry 15%, services 25% (1999 est.)

Unemployment rate 20% (1997 est.)

Budget
revenues: $1.603 billion
expenditures: $1.975 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)

Industries mining, lumbering, light manufacturing, aluminum smelting, food processing

Industrial production growth rate 3.8% (2000 est.)

Electricity - production 5.92 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source
fossil fuel: 30.41%
hydro: 69.59%
other: 0% (2000)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption 5.484 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports 422 million kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports 400 million kWh (2000)

Agriculture - products cocoa, rice, coffee, cassava (tapioca), peanuts, corn, shea nuts, bananas; timber

Exports $1.94 billion (f.o.b., 2000)

Exports - commodities gold, cocoa, timber, tuna, bauxite, aluminum, manganese ore, diamonds

Exports - partners Togo, UK, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, US, France (1998)

Imports $2.83 billion (f.o.b., 2000)

Imports - commodities capital equipment, petroleum, foodstuffs

Imports - partners UK, Nigeria, US, Germany, Italy, Spain (1998)

Debt - external $5.96 billion (2001 est.)

Economic aid - recipient $6.9 billion (1999)

Currency cedi (GHC)

Currency code GHC

Exchange rates cedis per US dollar - 7,195 (January 2002), 7,170.76 (2001), 5,455.06 (2000), 2,669.30 (1999), 2,314.15 (1998), 2,050.17 (1997)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Ghana on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Ghana Economy 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Ghana Economy 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.