GEPA to stop unauthorised fees on exports
The Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) is taking decisive actions to deal with difficulties that are eating into the fortunes of export companies in the country.
Advertisement
The actions involve stopping inspection agencies from charging unauthorised fees on exports at the various export destinations.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GEPA, Ms Gifty Klenam, told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on the sidelines of a retreat at Aburi in the Eastern Region that the measure was part of deliberate measures being put in place to change the country’s export fortunes.
She said the authority was now clothing itself with its core mandate of ensuring that Ghana’s export trade contributed immensely to the economic growth of the country.
It will do this through a strategic and aggressive marketing of made-in-Ghana products to the outside world.
She thus asked all agencies to concentrate on their core mandate and leave exporters alone to operate.
She also sent a strong warning to all agencies that imposes charges at the export point of exits to desist from such action, since it was disincentivising exports.
Other concerns
Ms Klenam said beyond the international market challenges, local conditions were equally affecting GEPA’s drive to increase exports.
“Our supply base is seriously challenged so that we are not able to meet huge export orders,” she said.
Import outgrown export
A Senior Lecturer at University of Ghana, Dr Eric Osei-Assibey, said to maintain its international competitiveness, Ghana must strive to increase productivity in all sectors of the economy, especially in exporting sectors.
According to him, achieving productivity goals will require new investment in exporting industries and technology acquisition.
This, in turn, will require attracting domestic and foreign investment and improving the availability of credit.
“Export promotion should concentrate on products and industries where medium-term competitiveness can be established and sustained, and where markets with significant growth potential can be identified,” Dr Osei-Assibey.
It is now widely recognised that to tackle the myriad constraints faced by exporters, trade policy can no longer be limited to so-called ‘border measures.’
Dr Osei-Assibey observed that the country’s exports had not grown as fast as imports even after the production and export of crude oil.
That, he said, was because the composition of Ghana’s merchandise exports had remained mostly unchanged, with commodities, such as unrefined minerals, raw cocoa and crude oil, together contributing about 86 per cent of the country’s total export.
“The non-traditional exports (NTEs) hold the key to Ghana’s export diversification drive. Within this, cocoa paste/butter account for almost a quarter of the total NTE earnings,” he explained.
He said some traditionally strong exports such as textile and garments, shea-nuts, handicrafts and wood products were in decline, mostly due to inability to meet international production volumes.
“The greatest potential to lead Ghana’s export diversification agenda lies with the following: cocoa processing, horticultural products, fresh fish and processed fish, palm oil, cashew-nuts, shea butter, oil seeds, natural rubber, yam, medicinal plants and professional services,” he stated.
He called on the government to address a wide range of national issues, including creating an enabling business environment (competition, investment, and institutions), including facilitating reliable and efficient movement of goods to destination markets; and ensuring product compliance with quality and sanitary and phytosanitary standards. — GB
