Many countries have to run very hard to stay in the same place. Most of the money that Ghana earns goes to service a debt of £360-million left by Nkrumah in 1966. The basic problem is the price of cocoa: it is 55 per cent of Ghana's export earnings and has proved an unreliable launching pad for economic take-off.
Now Ghana can only get out of the red if cocoa prices rise, and carry on rising; or if she can somehow break away from dependence on cocoa. In the past prices on the world markets have fallen by as much as £160 a ton in three years. Is the world's market working in such a way that Ghana, and countries like her, can never break out of their vicious circle of debt?
David Taylor reports from Ghana and Keith Kyle from London
Presented by Brian Widlake
with Paul Griffiths, Robert McKenzie