EXECUTIVE SUMMARY competitiveness and sustainability of democratic politics. These include: ? ? ? ? Concerns about the inadequacy of resources, notably the human, financial and logistic capacity of the Electoral Commission; The sustainability of the Commission's budget, as it is donor dependent; The lack of internal democracy within the parties and the potential long-term effect this may have in weakening democracy in the country; and The low representation of women in politics and what this portends for participation and representation in politics and the ethnic voting pattern that seems to be emerging in national elections. Economic governance and management 9. Ghana initiated a comprehensive Economic Recovery Program (ERP) in 1983, which encompassed macroeconomic and structural policies. This followed a period of protracted economic decline throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. By 1990-1991, Ghana had achieved a measure of success in its reform programme. The growth rate of its gross domestic product (GDP) had reached 4.3%, compared with the negative growth rates of 1980-1983; inflation had declined to 18% in 1991, compared with 78% on average between 1980 and 1983; and the foreign exchange market had been unified and liberalised. Less success had been achieved in export diversification and fiscal management. 10. Overall, Ghana's annual real GDP growth rates have hovered between 4 and 5.4% in the last decade. However, the economy remains relatively weak and highly vulnerable to external shocks from the world economy and sub-regional political instability due to factors originating in neighbouring countries. Successful transformation of the productive structure of the economy has remained elusive, as has firm control over the budget. The latter situation is due, in large part, to difficulties in containing major expenditure items such as the Wage Bill and interest payments on the public debt. 11. Two main issues were stressed in the country self-assessment report and preoccupied the Mission during the country consultation. These are: (a) the weak internal capacity in economic management; and (b) heavy dependence on external resources for financing government development expenditure. This has impelled Ghana to accept International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank guidance in macroeconomic programming in general, while input from the Bank of Ghana has also been important. Even bilateral donors have ranked above local research institutes, private sector institutions and public