Ghana expects 2008 economic growth of about 7 percent, in line with an earlier target, after exports rose, a Finance Ministry spokesman said.

Last month the country's central bank forecast growth of 6.6 percent. The Finance Ministry in May said it expected growth of 6.8 percent.

``We are looking to achieve our GDP growth target, Kwaku Kwarteng, the government's finance spokesman, said in an interview in the capital, Accra, late yesterday.

Ghana is the world's second-biggest cocoa producer after Ivory Coast and ranks behind South Africa as Africa's second- largest gold producer. In the first nine months of the year cocoa exports rose to $1.16 billion from $910.8 million the year earlier, while gold exports jumped to $1.75 billion from $1.25 billion, according to the Bank of Ghana.