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Economy
Economy—overview: Well endowed with natural resources, Ghana has 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 41% of GDP and employs 60% of the work force, mainly small landholders. In 1995-97, Ghana made mixed progress under a three-year structural adjustment program in cooperation with the IMF. On the minus side, public sector wage increases and regional peacekeeping commitments have led to continued inflationary deficit financing, depreciation of the cedi, and rising public discontent with Ghana's austerity measures. Power shortages also helped slow growth in 1998.
GDP: purchasing power parity—$33.6 billion (1998 est.)
GDP—real growth rate: 3% (1998 est.)
GDP—per capita: purchasing power parity—$1,800 (1998 est.)
GDP—composition by sector:
agriculture: 41%
industry: 14%
services: 45% (1996 est.)
Population below poverty line: 31.4% (1992 est.)
Household income or consumption
by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.4%
highest 10%: 27.3% (1992)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 27.7% (1997 est.)
Labor force: NA
Labor force—by occupation: agriculture and fishing 61%, industry 10%, services 29% (1996 est.)
Unemployment rate: 20% (1997 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $1.39 billion
expenditures: $1.47 billion, including capital expenditures of
$370 million (1996 est.)
Industries: mining, lumbering, light manufacturing, aluminum smelting, food processing
Industrial production growth rate: 4.2% (1996 est.)
Electricity—production: 6.1 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity—production by
source:
fossil fuel: 0.66%
hydro: 99.34%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1996)
Electricity—consumption: 5.88 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity—exports: 225 million kWh (1996)
Electricity—imports: 5 million kWh (1996)
Agriculture—products: cocoa, rice, coffee, cassava (tapioca), peanuts, corn, shea nuts, bananas; timber
Exports: $1.5 billion (f.o.b., 1997)
Exports—commodities: gold 39%, cocoa 35%, timber 9.4%, tuna, bauxite, aluminum, manganese ore, and diamonds (1996 est.)
Exports—partners: UK, Germany, US, Netherlands, Japan, Nigeria
Imports: $2.1 billion (f.o.b., 1997)
Imports—commodities: capital equipment, petroleum, consumer goods, foods, intermediate goods
Imports—partners: UK, Nigeria, US, Germany, Japan, Netherlands
Debt—external: $5.2 billion (1996 est.)
Economic aid—recipient: $477.3 million (1995)
Currency: 1 new cedi (C) = 100 pesewas
Exchange rates: new cedis per US$1—2,324.70 (September 1998), 2,050.17 (1997), 1,637.23 (1996), 1,200.43 (1995), 956.71 (1994)
Fiscal year: calendar year