FACTBOX: Ghana, built on gold, looks to future with oil

(Reuters) - John Atta Mills of Ghana's opposition National Democratic Congress has won the presidential election in the West African country, the electoral commission said on Saturday.

He will succeed President John Kufuor, who is due to stand down on January 7 after the maximum two terms.

Here are some facts about Ghana.

GEOGRAPHY: Area is 239,460 sq. km. (92,440 sq. miles), a bit smaller than Britain. Ghana is bordered by Burkina Faso (to the north), Ivory Coast (west), and Togo (east). The Atlantic Ocean lies to the south.

LANGUAGE: English is the official language, but local languages include Akan, Ga, Fanti, Hausa, Fanteewe, Gaadanhe, Dagbandim and Mamprussi.

POPULATION: 23 million. There are seven main ethnic groups, including the Akan (Ashanti and Fanti), 44 percent, in the mid-southern part of the country. There are Mossi-Dagomba, Ewe and Ga-Adangbe minorities, among others.

RELIGION: Christianity 50 percent, traditional African religions 32 percent, Islam 13 percent.

ECONOMY:

* World's No. 2 cocoa grower after neighboring Ivory Coast, producing around one fifth of world supply. Government plans to increase output by around half to 1 million tonnes by 2010.

* Africa's second biggest gold miner after South Africa, with 2007 output of nearly 2.5 million ounces.

* Britain's Tullow Oil and private-owned Kosmos Energy plan to start producing 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil offshore in late 2010, rising later to 250,000 bpd.

* Economic reforms under Kufuor's administration are credited with boosting growth and helping secure billions of dollars in debt relief.

* Economic growth forecast at 6.5 percent for 2008, slowing to 5.8 percent in 2009/10, then accelerating to 6.8 percent by 2013, according to the IMF.

* Annual inflation has eased since an 18.4 percent peak in June, and the cedi currency has stabilized after falling 17 percent against the dollar in the first seven months of 2008.

* $750 million Eurobond issue in 2007 was sub-Saharan Africa's first outside South Africa.

* Ghana's stock exchange is one of the top-performing markets in 2008 with the all-share index up around 60 percent, although trade is illiquid with as little as 600 cedis worth of trade in one session in October.