Tax Guide for Petroleum Operations in Ghana

Overview

Ghana is a country located in West Africa, bordered by Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) to the west, Burkina Faso to the north,Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. Formed from the merger of the British colony of the Gold Coast and the Togoland trust territory, in 1957 Ghana became the first sub-Saharan country in colonial Africa to gain its independence. Ghana is divided into ten regions, and its capital is Accra. The official language of Ghana is English, and the currency is the Ghana Cedi (GHS).

Well-endowed with natural resources, Ghana has roughly twice the per capita output of other countries in the West Africa sub-region. In terms of its political terrain, Ghana has a stable multiparty constitutional democracy founded on elections by open and free universal adult suffrage. The country has witnessed five smooth transitions of change of governments in the current democratic dispensation. The main arms of government are the Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary, each of which is independent of the other. At the local level, the District Assemblies are to be the highest political and administrative authority in each district, with deliberative, executive, and legislative powers.