When Ghana became the world’s newest oil exporter in December, its people had high expectations. “After a long wait, the day has come,” said president John Atta-Mills when he opened the valves on a rig 60 kilometres off the west African country’s coast.
The effects of oil are already being felt on the economy. Export earnings in the first quarter of 2011 were two-thirds higher than in the same period of 2010. And real gross domestic product (GDP) will increase 13% this year, forecasts the International Monetary Fund. Such expansion would make Ghana’s economy one of the five fastest growing in the world.
