GEPA targets $10bn proceeds from non-traditional exports
The Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) has set a new target to grow proceeds from non-traditional exports (NTEs) to $10 billion by the next four years, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the authority, Ms Gifty Kekeli Klenam, has said.
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She said over the years, the emphasis had been on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) but the authority would now broaden its activities to attract investors to set up in the country and take advantage of opportunities under international pacts that promoted bilateral trade.
“We’ve stayed at the SME level for too long; it’s about time we moved up and very fast. Our peers are doing about $16 billion and more. So we are also targeting at least $10 billion,” she said.
“We have opportunities such as ratifying the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union, the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) in place and all the support that foreign countries are willing to give us.
“It’s about time we attracted direct investors who are ready to locate here and support at the production level, so that we can also export the volumes that are required to achieve this target,” Mrs Klenam stated in an interview with the Daily Graphic.
NTEs
There are about 500 different NTE products categorised into agricultural, processed/semi-processed and handicrafts. In 2013, exports of NTEs amounted to $2.44 billion, an increase of 3.05 per cent over the previous year’s earnings of $2.36 billion.
From 2001 to 2008, the sector grew steadily at an annual average rate of about 16.4 per cent, with the highest rate of about 30.4 per cent in 2007.
NTE earnings fell by -9.38 per cent from $1.34 billion in 2008 to $1.22 billion in 2009 as a result of the global economic meltdown.
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First public interview
In her first public interview since assuming the reins at the national export trade support institution, Ms Klenam stated that the new leadership had just started a restructuring exercise of the institution, to be followed by the strengthening of its zonal and regional offices to help grow the production base of export products.
“We came to meet an institution that has no head of finance or human resource and there was virtually no department that is actually working. So far, we’ve been able to put all these departments in place, hired those we need to and we’ve kick-started the restructuring exercise,” she explained.
Restructuring and staff buy-in
She said the staff were happy with the restructuring and new vision in the sense that “majority of them have acquired a lot of experience which was not being utilised, while some had been here for six to seven years without being assigned on projects”.
“Almost everybody here has travelled before on trade missions but they sit in Accra. It’s about time we released them to go and build the zones and regions which are the export production bases. We want them to impart their knowledge to the producers and direct them to produce according to the needs of the export market,” she stated.
Ms Klenam was of the belief that when that was done, it would help resolve issues such as the ban on vegetable exports, as well as improve on packaging, adding that marketing the products would also be better if the staff knew the products inside out.
She said the staff would be given clearly defined targets to achieve at every level in order to achieve the larger target of increasing proceeds from NTEs.
Resources
She explained that the authority had challenges with funds and logistics and vehicles without roadworthy certificates to execute their mandate, adding: “We’ve sent letters to various institutions to support us with vehicles. This is very important for us.”
Regional trade
Ms Klenam expressed the hope that after boosting the production base, the West African sub-region would provide a good market for exports from Ghana.
She was quick to add, however, that the ECOWAS region remained a crucial market and the President had already taken the lead to familiarise himself and bond with the Presidents and leadership of the region to promote the country’s trade with them.
“Identifying and developing the production is very important. Until we see a major production boost, I don’t think it is worth promoting what you don’t have. So we will slow down on trade missions until we see the production base improves,” she noted.