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Ghana is an independent republic with a democratic government which lies on the Gulf of Guinea and forms part of the West African Region. The capital city is Accra. Other major towns are Kumasi and Tamale and the ports of Cape Coast, Tema and Takoradi.
Prior to independence on 6th March 1957, Ghana was known as the Gold Coast. John Atta Mills is the third and current President of the Fourth Republic of Ghana. He was inaugurated on 7 January 2009.
The official language is English while over 100 native languages are spoken. The local currency is the cedi. (US$ / Cedi - current exchange rate).
The international time zone for Ghana is GMT. The international dialling code for Ghana is +233. Air Ghana is the national carrier which operates regional and intercontinental services. There are 63 airlines currently operating in Ghana. Ghana has several major and regional airports. The Accra International Airport, the country’s premier airport, receives airlines from many world destinations.
Climate is tropical; warm and comparatively dry along the southeast coast; hot and humid in the southwest; hot and dry in the north. Natural resources include gold, timber, industrial diamonds, bauxite, manganese, fish, rubber, hydropower, petroleum, silver, salt and limestone.
Malaria, tuberculosis, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningitis, yellow fever, typhoid fever and schistosomiasis may be contracted while travelling in Ghana. Dengue fever; filariasis, leishmaniasis and onchoceriasis (river blindness) are other diseases carried by insects occurring in West Africa. Some polio outbreaks have been reported in West Africa since 2003. The risk of contraction is based on a number of factors including location, the individual's state of health, current immunisation status, and the local disease situation.
In the latter half of the 1990s Ghana embarked upon a programme of privatisation of state-owned enterprises and government divestiture of parastatals.
According to the US State Department, GDP in 2010 was $18.06 billion. 2010 exports amounted to $7.33 billion from gold, cocoa, timber, industrial diamonds, manganese ore, tuna, while Ghana spent $10.18 billion on imports of mainly petroleum, food, industrial raw materials, machinery and equipment. Ghana’s chief trade partners are Nigeria, China, United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Cote d’Ivoire, France and India.
Ghana has a relatively diverse and rich natural resource base, while a major oil discovery off the coast of Ghana in 2007 led to significant international commercial interest in Ghana. Oil production at the offshore Jubilee field began in mid-December, 2010. Estimated oil reserves have jumped to almost 700 million barrels, and some experts have speculated that, within the next 5 years, Ghana is likely to be the third-largest producer of oil in West Africa. In addition to its oil industry, Ghana has an active chemicals industry, as well as being one of the larger markets in the lubricants industry of the West African region.
Timber and marine resources are important exports for Ghana, but are unfortunately declining.
Agriculture accounts for roughly one-third of Ghana’s GDP, while employing more than half of the workforce, mainly small landholders. Ghana’s primary cash crop is cocoa. Ghana signed a Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact in 2006, aimed at assisting in the transformation of the agricultural sector. The services sector accounts for 40% of GDP.
Ghana's industrial base is relatively advanced compared to many other African countries. Industries include textiles, apparel, steel (from scrap), tires, flour milling, cocoa processing, beverages, tobacco, simple consumer goods, and car, truck, and bus assembly. Industry, including mining, manufacturing, construction and electricity, accounts for about 30% of GDP.
Ghana has experienced a stable political climate and an average annual GDP growth over the past ten years. Ghana was recognized for its economic and democratic achievements in 2006, when it signed a 5-year, $547 million anti-poverty compact with the United States' Millennium Challenge Corporation. Ghana is currently on track to meet the Millennium Development goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015.
Ghana is active in the United Nations and many of its specialized agencies, as well as the World Trade Organization, the Nonaligned Movement, the African Union (AU), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Exchange controls are liberalised and several private forex bureaux operate in Ghana, while the Bank of Ghana Exchange Control Department administers the allocation of exchange for payments for invisibles and capital.
Ghana maintains a liberal trade and exchange system largely free of restrictions. A new Foreign Exchange Act has recently been passed to simplify the documentation and approval procedures that burdened the system under the old Exchange Control Act, effectively opening the economy to the global markets.
The Ghana Free Zones Scheme is an integrated programme aimed at promoting the processing and manufacturing of goods through the establishment of Export Processing Zones (EPZs). As a result, the whole of Ghana is accessible to potential investors, who have the opportunity to use the free zones as focal points to produce goods and services for foreign markets. Completely private sector driven, the Government's role in the programme is limited to facilitation, regulation and monitoring of activities of zone developers/operators and enterprises.
