GHANA
A stable country and the best entrance to a market of 300,000,000 people
Ghana has a population of approximately 28.8 million people. Thanks to its democratic stability, the country can be considered a "gateway" for the entire ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) area, which includes markets experiencing strong demographic expansion.
Ghana has a population growth rate of 2.2% per year and 40% of the population is under the age of 14. Political stability, a democratic system and the government's activism in the fight against poverty contribute to making Ghana a country well-regarded by major international donors. In August 2014, the US Millennium Challenge Corporation formalized a $498.2 million commitment to support, among other things, the transformation of Ghana's energy sector. According to the World Bank definition, Ghana has the status of "Lower Middle Income Country".
Ghana and Italy: a fruitful collaboration
Bilateral relations between Italy and Ghana are based on an intense and fruitful collaboration both in the entrepreneurial and development cooperation fields, which has recently been further intensified with the program to support small and medium-sized local businesses GPSDF (Ghana Private Sector Development Facility).
In 2016, trade between the two countries was approximately 488 million euros. Italian exports reached their all-time high, exceeding 264 million and recording an annual increase of 29.5%. Italian imports amounted to 223.4 million. Machinery and equipment represented the main item of our exports, the products of mines and quarries constituted the main item of our imports.
There are three projects carried out by Italian companies that have had particular importance in the history of Ghana: the Akosombo dam, considered as the largest and most ambitious project in the country, built by Impregilo in the early sixties, which led to the creation of the Lake Volta, the largest artificial basin in the world by extension, and to the generation of electricity for national needs; the Tema refinery, built by Ghanaian Italian Petroleum (GHAIP) in 1963, then wholly owned by ENI; and the discovery of the offshore oil and gas field at the Cape Three Points (OCTP) block, off the coast of Ghana, by ENI again. Oil production began in 2017, gas production in 2018. This is an important contribution to access to energy, economic growth and improving the balance of payments. The project, worth approximately seven billion dollars, is also the single largest private investment in all of West Africa.
From the point of view of scientific relations, the relations between the two countries take the form of some cooperation projects between universities. Italy provides some scholarships for university courses, master's degrees and doctorates. It also guarantees, where the requirements exist, enrollment of young Ghanaians at our universities.
There is a dynamic Italian business community in the country, which has established itself there. a few decades ago, operating in the construction sector, cocoa production and timber exports.
A virtuous economy for constant growth
From an economic point of view, Ghana is considered by international observers to be a "virtuous" country. Thanks to its political stability and the structural reforms adopted as part of programs agreed with the International Monetary Fund and economic reforms adopted by the government, which aim at debt reduction and budget rigor, Ghana has experienced a promising development, marked by constant growth, which has stood at around 8% per year over the last ten years. The International Monetary Fund, in its Regional Economic Outlook published in April 2018, estimates growth in 2018 and 2019 at 6.3% and 7.6% respectively. The Ghanaian economy is expected to benefit both from the exploitation of hydrocarbon resources off the coast of Ghana, including the offshore OCTP field operated by ENI, and from the non-oil component (according to IMF forecasts, +5% in 2018 and +6 % in 2019).