Some random facts about Ghana
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| Manpower reaching military service age annually: | males age 18-49: 251,056
females age 18-49: 247,777 (2005 est.) |
| Debt - external: | $3.546 billion (2006 est.) |
| GDP (purchasing power parity): | $60 billion (2006 est.) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share: | lowest 10%: 2.2%
highest 10%: 30.1% (1999) |
| Economy - overview: | 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, timber, and cocoa production are major sources of foreign exchange. The domestic economy continues to revolve around subsistence agriculture, which accounts for 37% 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, but was included in a G-8 debt relief program decided upon at the Gleneagles Summit in July 2005. Priorities under its current $38 million Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) include tighter monetary and fiscal policies, accelerated privatization, and improvement of social services. Receipts from the gold sector helped sustain GDP growth in 2006 along with record high prices for Ghana's largest cocoa crop to date. Ghana received a Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant in 2006, which aims to assist in transforming Ghana's agricultural export sector. |
Ghana