What has been the impact of the global economic crisis on Ghana?
Allum: Ghana has been affected, but less so than many other frontier emerging markets. Private remittances from those working abroad has fallen by about a fifth, and foreign direct investment has fallen to a four-year low. At the same time, global economic uncertainty has led to a slump in the domestic construction industry. But unlike a lot of African commodity exporters, Ghana has been very fortunate that its two main exports, gold and cocoa, fared very well during the global recession. Global demand and prices for both have remained very strong and that has helped it weather the recession better than most countries. At the same time, Ghana doesn’t have a very large manufacturing base, unlike South Africa, so it hasn’t been affected by the slump in manufacturing trade globally. And its financial sector is also relatively insulated from the global financial system. So while growth has slowed, it’s still in the 4 percent range, down from 7 to 8 percent in 2008. For Africa as a whole, w
