U.s. Department of Commerce

Business Opportunities in Ghana U.s. Department of Commerce

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 and cocoa production and individual remittances are major sources of foreign exchange. The domestic economy continues to revolve around agriculture, which accounts for about 43 percent of GDP and employs about 55 percent of the work force, mainly small landholders. With the 2007 confirmed discovery of commercially viable offshore oil reserves in Ghana (Jubilee Field) and production which begun in December 2010, there has been increased international interest in the Ghanaian market on the part of both oil and gas and auxiliary services sectors ? as well as companies from unrelated sectors anticipating future economic growth in the country. Further oil and gas exploration continues and optimism is high for further discoveries. Real GDP growth over the past ten years has averaged 5.1 percent with the most recent GDP figure at 13.6 percent (2011), after growing at 7.7 percent in 2010. The rate of inflation was announced to be 8.7 in January 2012. Throughout 2010, inflation dropped to 8.5 percent which is the lowest under any government in the nation?s recent economic history and is reported to have grown steadily to almost 9.2 percent in January 2011. Ghana?s main export partners are the Netherlands (11 percent), the United Kingdom (9 percent), France (6.2 percent), the United States (5.9 percent), Germany (4.6 percent) and Belgium (4.4 percent). Ghana?s main import partners include Nigeria (15.1 percent), China (14.9 percent), the United Kingdom (5.2 percent) and the United States (5.1 percent).