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government type:
constitutional democracy capital: accra administrative divisions: 10 regions; ashanti. brong-ahafo. central. eastern. greater accra. northern. upper east. upper west. volta. western independence: 6 march 1957 (from uk) national holiday: independence day. 6 march (1957) constitution: approved 28 april 1992 legal system: based on english common law and customary law; has not accepted compulsory icj jurisdiction suffrage: 18 years of age; universal executive branch: chief of state: president john agyekum kufuor (since 7 january 2001); vice president alhaji aliu mahama (since 7 january 2001); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government: president john agyekum kufuor (since 7 january 2001); vice president alhaji aliu mahama (since 7 january 2001); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government cabinet: council of ministers; president nominates members subject to approval by parliament elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for four-year terms; election last held 7 december 2004 (next to be held december 2008) election results: john agyekum kufuor reelected president in election; percent of vote - john kufuor 53.4%. john atta mills 43.7% legislative branch: unicameral parliament (230 seats; note - increased from 200 seats in last election; members are elected by direct. popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: last held 7 december 2004 (next to be held december 2008) election results: percent of vote by party - na%; seats by party - npp 128. ndc 92. other 10 judicial branch: supreme court political parties and leaders: convention people's party or cpp [nii noi dowuona. general secretary]; every ghanaian living everywhere or egle [owuraku amofa. chairman]; great consolidated popular party or gcpp [dan larty]; national convention party or ncp [sarpong kuma-kuma]; national democratic congress or ndc [dr. huudu yahaya. general secretary]; new patriotic party or npp [samuel arthur odoi-sykes]; people's convention party or pcp [p. k. donkoh-ayifi. acting chairman]; people's heritage party or php [emmanuel alexander erskine]; people's national convention or pnc [edward mahama]; reform party [kyeretwie opuku. general secretary] political pressure groups and leaders: na international organization participation: acp. afdb. au. c. ecowas. fao. g-24. g-77. iaea. ibrd. icao. icc. icct. icftu. icrm. ida. ifad. ifc. ifrcs. ilo. imf. imo. interpol. ioc. iom (observer). iso. itu. miga. minurso. monuc. nam. oas (observer). onub. opcw. un. unamsil. unctad. unesco. unhcr. unido. unifil. unitar. unmee. unmil. unoci. upu. wcl. wco. wftu. who. wipo. wmo. wtoo. wto diplomatic representation in the us: chief of mission: ambassador fritz kwabena poku chancery: 3512 international drive nw. washington. dc 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 686-4520 fax: [1] (202) 686-4527 consulate(s) general: new york diplomatic representation from the us: chief of mission: ambassador mary carlin yates embassy: 6th and 10th lanes. 798/1 osu. accra mailing address: p. o. box 194. accra telephone: [233] (21) 775-347. 775-348 fax: [233] (21) 701-813 flag description: three equal horizontal bands of red (top). yellow. and green with a large black five-pointed star centered in the yellow band; uses the popular pan-african colors of ethiopia; similar to the flag of bolivia. which has a coat of arms centered in the yellow band economy - overview: well endowed with natural resources. ghana has roughly 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 34% 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 g8 debt relief program decided upon at the gleneagles summit in july 2005. priorities under its current $38 million prgf include tighter monetary and fiscal policies. accelerated privatization. and improvement of social services. receipts from the gold sector helped sustain gdp growth in 2005 along with record high prices for ghana's largest cocoa crop to date. inflation should ease. but remain a major internal problem. ghana also remains a candidate country to benefit from millennium challenge corporation (mcc) funding that could assist in transforming ghana's agricultural export sector. a final decision on its mcc bid is expected for spring 2006. gdp (purchasing power parity): $51.8 billion (2005 est.) gdp (official exchange rate): $9.464 billion (2005 est.) gdp - real growth rate: 4.3% (2005 est.) gdp - per capita: purchasing power parity - $2.500 (2005 est.) gdp - composition by sector: agriculture: 35.5% industry: 25.6% services: 39% (2005 est.) labor force: 10.62 million (2005 est.) labor force - by occupation: agriculture 60%. industry 15%. services 25% (1999 est.) unemployment rate: 20% (1997 est.) population below poverty line: 31.4% (1992 est.) household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.2% highest 10%: 30.1% (1999) distribution of family income - gini index: 30 (1999) inflation rate (consumer prices): 15% (2005 est.) investment (gross fixed): 24.6% of gdp (2005 est.) budget: revenues: $3.216 billion expenditures: $3.506 billion. including capital expenditures of na (2005 est.) public debt: 80.1% of gdp (2005 est.) agriculture - products: cocoa. rice. coffee. cassava (tapioca). peanuts. corn. shea nuts. bananas; timber industries: mining. lumbering. light manufacturing. aluminum smelting. food processing. cement. small commercial ship building industrial production growth rate: 3.8% (2000 est.) electricity - production: 5.356 billion kwh (2003) electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 5% hydro: 95% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2001) electricity - consumption: 5.081 billion kwh (2003) electricity - exports: 400 million kwh (2003) electricity - imports: 500 million kwh (2003) oil - production: 7.433 bbl/day (2003 est.) oil - consumption: 39.000 bbl/day (2003 est.) oil - exports: na (2001) oil - imports: na (2001) oil - proved reserves: 8.255 million bbl (1 january 2002) natural gas - proved reserves: 11.89 billion cu m (1 january 2002) current account balance: $57 million (2005 est.) exports: $2.911 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.) exports - partners: netherlands 12.3%. uk 10%. france 6.9%. us 6.4%. belgium 4.7%. germany 4.6%. japan 4.2% (2004) imports: $4.273 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.) imports - partners: nigeria 12.6%. china 11.4%. uk 6.6%. us 6.4%. france 4.9%. netherlands 4.2% (2004) reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $1.732 billion (2005 est.) debt - external: $7.084 billion (2005 est.) economic aid - recipient: $6.9 billion (1999) currency (code): cedi (ghc) currency code: ghc exchange rates: cedis per us dollar - 9.127.42 (2005). 9.004.6 (2004). 8.677.4 (2003). 7.932.7 (2002). 7.170.8 (2001) fiscal year: calendar year telephones - main lines in use: 302.300 (2003) telephones - mobile cellular: 799.900 (2003) telephone system: general assessment: poor to fair system; internet accessible; many rural communities not yet connected; expansion of services is underway domestic: primarily microwave radio relay; wireless local loop has been installed international: country code - 233; satellite earth stations - 4 intelsat (atlantic ocean); microwave radio relay link to panaftel system connects ghana to its neighbors; fiber optic submarine cable (sat-3/wasc) provides connectivity to europe and asia radio broadcast stations: am 0. fm 49. shortwave 3 (2001) radios: 12.5 million (2001) television broadcast stations: 10 (2001) televisions: 1.9 million (2001) internet country code: .gh internet hosts: 407 (2004) internet service providers (isps): 12 (2000) internet users: 170.000 (2002) airports: 12 (2004 est.) airports - with paved runways: total: 7 over 3.047 m: 1 1.524 to 2.437 m: 4 914 to 1.523 m: 2 (2005 est.) airports - with unpaved runways: total: 5 914 to 1.523 m: 3 under 914 m: 2 (2005 est.) pipelines: refined products 74 km (2004) railways: total: 953 km narrow gauge: 953 km 1.067-m gauge (2004) roadways: total: 47.787 km paved: 8.563 km unpaved: 39.224 km (2003) waterways: 1.293 km note: 168 km for launches and lighters on volta. ankobra. and tano rivers; 1.125 km of arterial and feeder waterways on lake volta (2003) merchant marine: total: 4 ships (1.000 grt or over) 19.086 grt/26.185 dwt by type: petroleum tanker 1. refrigerated cargo 3 foreign-owned: 1 (brazil 1) (2005) ports and terminals: takoradi. tema military branches: army. navy. air force military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for compulsory and volunteer military service (2001) manpower available for military service: males age 18-49: 4.761.226 (2005 est.) manpower fit for military service: males age 18-49: 2.721.239 (2005 est.) manpower reaching military service age annually: males: 250.782 (2005 est.) military expenditures - dollar figure: $49.2 million (2004) military expenditures - percent of gdp: 0.6% (2004) disputes - international: ghana struggles to accommodate returning nationals who worked in the cocoa plantations and escaped rebel fighting in cote d'ivoire refugees and internally displaced persons: refugees (country of origin): 42.466 (liberia) (2004) illicit drugs: illicit producer of cannabis for the international drug trade; major transit hub for southwest and southeast asian heroin and. to a lesser extent. south american cocaine destined for europe and the us; widespread crime and money laundering problem. but the lack of a well-developed financial infrastructure limits the country's utility as a money-laundering center
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