Business News of Friday, 18 October 2019

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Ghana risks losing 49 percent of export market due to Brexit – Dr Ackah

A Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Statistical, Social & Economic Research (ISSER), Dr. Charles Godfred Ackah has cautioned that Ghana risks losing 49 percent of its export commodity market due to the perilous impact of a European Union-United Kingdom “Brexit” agreement.



“It’s likely Ghana will risk losing some 49 percent of our export market unless alternative markets are found should the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union impact on the commodity trade market,” he warned.



According to him, should the economy of the United Kingdom and Europe also begin to contract or have some challenges after Brexit, there will be other implications on Ghana in terms of investments, remittances and aid from donor countries.



“As the global growth is already beginning to shrink, Ghana can longer depend on its three main traditional exports for trade which are Cocoa, Gold and Oil. We have to diversify our trade regime both in terms of good quality, value addition and search new markets for our products,” he added.



Dr Ackah made this known in an interview with GhanaWeb on the sidelines of the 9th Lecture Series by the Centre for European Studies at the University of Ghana in Accra.



He attributed the uncertainty of the current Brexit agreement to the global tensions that has rendered business confidence and investments inflows, ultimately affecting Ghana in the long run.



Dr Ackah indicated that government needs a robust industrial policy for job creation. He advised that the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is an opportunity for Ghana to join other ECOWAS countries to facilitate trade rather than solely depending on Europe.









EU-UK Brexit deal



When the United Kingdom announced the decision to opt out of the European Union in 2017, after it held a referendum in 2016, one of the following three scenarios are likely to happen on the October 31, 2019 deadline set out by the European Union.



The United Kingdom (UK) will leave the European Union (EU) without any deal hard Brexit), the separation of the UK from the EU will happen with a deal that will set the basis for the relationship between the two sides or the UK and the EU will agree to extend the deadline for Brexit to give the two sides more time to reach an agreement.

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