Names: conventional long form: Republic of Ghana conventional short form: Ghana former: Gold Coast

Capital City: Accra

Population: 22,409,572 note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006 est.)

GDP Per Capita: $2,600 (2006 est.)

Currency: cedi (GHC)

Languages: English (official), African languages (including Akan, Moshi-Dagomba, Ewe, and Ga)

Total Area: total: 239,460 sq km land: 230,940 sq km water: 8,520 sq km slightly smaller than Oregon

Region: Africa

Industries: mining, lumbering, light manufacturing, aluminum smelting, food processing, cement, small commercial ship building

Agriculture: cocoa, rice, coffee, cassava (tapioca), peanuts, corn, shea nuts, bananas; timber

Resources: gold, timber, industrial diamonds, bauxite, manganese, fish, rubber, hydropower, petroleum, silver, salt, limestone

Labor Force: 10.87 million (2006 est.)
agriculture: 60% industry: 15% services: 25% (1999 est.)

Exports: $3.286 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
gold, cocoa, timber, tuna, bauxite, aluminum, manganese ore, diamonds

Imports: $5.666 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
capital equipment, petroleum, foodstuffs

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 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 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.

_{CIA World Book}

In 2007 Missouri exported $2,730,321 in goods to Ghana. This ranks Ghana 68^th among the 223 international buyers of Missouri goods. Missouri exports to Ghana increased from the previous year by $1,550,732 a change of 131,46%. State exports to Ghana have increased over the last 5 years by $2,047,659 a change of 299.95%. Missouri exports account for .02%. of all 2007 US exports to Ghana.