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Konfidants advisory firm urges Ghanaian government to take advantage of AFCTA
- Asks government to address high electricity costs
- Seeks improvement in customs efficiency
Konfidants, an international advisory firm, has urged the Ghanaian government to take advantage of the African Free Continental Trade Area (AfCTA) to boost Ghana’s competitiveness on the African market stage.
In a research carried out by Konfidants to ascertain Ghana’s competitive potential in the AfCTA, Konfidants found that the high cost of credit facilities and electricity, cumbersome customs processes, and slow export documentation process may cost Ghana the competitive edge over its African counterparts.
According to the report, “Ghana’s current average tariff of 12.9 cents per kilowatt-hour for industrial consumers as of December 2020 is less competitive against countries such as Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Malawi, Botswana, DR Congo, Mozambique, Zambia, Ethiopia – which all had the cost of power less than 10 cents per kilowatt-hour as at 2016. Worthy of note is that Ethiopia as of 2016 charged 2.4 cents per kilowatt-hour for consumers”.
On the issue of customs processes, “The time efficiency of customs in Ghana is estimated at 197.3 hours compared to 40 hours in Kenya, the fastest among the frontier countries. Regarding the cost of meeting documentary and border compliance, it costs $645 (USD) in Ghana compared to $262.7 (USD) in Morocco, the cheapest among the frontier countries”, the report read.
The report concluded by calling on the Ghanaian government to improve its local economy to shield local businesses from the competition that comes with African free trade.