Ghana

Steady growth in Ghana’s economy has seen the country maintain its position on the World Economic Forum’s “Global Competitiveness Index 2011-12”, with the country keeping its 114th position among 142 countries. The economy is also posited to continue growing, with 20% expansion expected this year on the back of increased oil, gold and cocoa prices.

Over the past decade health care in Ghana has improved dramatically, primarily as a result of a wide variety of government-led initiatives and programmes. Projects overseen by the Ministry of Health (MoH) in recent years have included upgrading the country’s public health infrastructure in an effort to streamline and improve medical services on offer; expanding the scope of the government’s disease control and immunisation programmes; and encouraging the ongoing development of the private sector.

Ghana’s cocoa industry has enjoyed a bumper crop this year, on the back of favourable weather conditions. During the most recent primary harvest period, from September 2010 through May 2011, the sector produced just over 900,000 tonnes of cocoa, up substantially from 623,000 tonnes the previous year. An additional 80,000 tonnes of production is expected during the three-month light crop period that began in June 2011, which should bring the annual total to just below 1m tonnes.

After a decade of rapid growth tempered by rising unemployment Ghana’s education sector is working to develop a plan for the future. In June 200 representatives from the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service and civil society met in Accra to formulate a 10-year strategy for the annual budget request in September.

In a bid to increase the sector’s contribution to economic growth, Ghana’s national mining policy is set to undergo a major reworking over the next few months.

An economy in full growth brings myriad benefits to a country but does have the potential to strain existing resources and infrastructure – as Ghana is finding out. Increasing urbanisation, combined with a rise in primary sector activity and planned industrial expansion have emphasised the need for additional electricity generation capacity in Ghana, prompting the government to adopt a multi-pronged approach to boost supply.