ABOUT Ghana

Formed from the merger of the British colony of the Gold Coast and the Togoland trust territory, Ghana, in 1957, became the first sub-Saharan country in colonial Africa to gain its independence. It is located along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean, in the subregion of West Africa.

Its growing economic prosperity and a stable political system have contributed to making it a regional power in the West African region. It has grown into the continent's ninth-largest economy and one of the fastest growing.

A diverse and rich resource base, a strong manufacturing and exportation environment and the recent discovery of the Jubilee Oilfield in 2007 has sent Africa’s newest oil producer on a fast track of exploration for oil and gas in large quantities and turned the country into an economic success story.

Ghana is believed to have up to 5 to 7 billion barrels of petroleum in reserves, which is the sixth largest in Africa and the 25th largest proven reserves in the world and Ghana has up to 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in reserves.