Currently, the authority only receives $5 million yearly, instead of $60 million, to fund its activities, a development which makes it virtually impossible to meet the target set under the strategy. Last year, the country exported NTEs worth US$ 3.5 billion, a situation experts say was on the low side considering Ghana’s huge resource potential.

The Director of Projects at the authority, Alexander Dadzawa, who disclosed this in an interview, said "A budget of less than $5millon is insufficient. It takes $200,000 to organise one trade show".

This revelation comes at a time when the 2022 Ghana’s Trade Vulnerabilities Report has exposed the risks and potentials of the country’s trade capabilities with the country importing a total of GH¢148.6 billion as against export of GH¢144.1 billion, leaving the country in a negative trade of about GH¢4 billion for 2022.

Non-traditional exports (NTEs) have been identified as one key area that could offer the country the way out of its dependency on imports and balance off our negative trade. However, trade experts say the resources allocated to the sector were inadequate to leapfrog the country’s NTEs.

Int. Trade Vulnerability Report

According to the report, four commodities (gold bullion, crude petroleum, cocoa beans, cocoa paste) constitute about three-quarters (75 per cent) of all of Ghana’s exports, amounting to about US$9 billion in annual revenue. 

For imports, 219 different commodities make up about three-quarters (75 per cent) of all imports, amounting to about US$4 billion.

Half of the country’s exports were to four countries -Switzerland, China, Canada and South Africa- while imports from China, the UK, Netherlands, USA, India and Switzerland make up about half (50 per cent) of the country’s imports.

The report also identified that it is only in Africa and North America that the value of exports exceeds imports.

The report further found out that in 2022, the country’s total exports amounted to GH¢144.1 billion while total imports hit GH¢148.6 billion. Of the total number of Ghana’s trading partner countries, it emerged that the country imported from 209 countries but exported to just 161 countries. 

By way of sharing the commodities traded, two commodities -gold and petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals and crude- constituted a whopping 67 per cent, a development which begs the question of whether governments, over the years, are serious about their resolve to fully diversify the country’s export base to reduce the risk of global commodity price shocks and rake in more money from non-traditional exports. 

By way of revenue from the top export commodities, Ghana earned GH¢53.6 billion from gold bullion, GH¢43.3 billion from petroleum oils, and oils obtained from bituminous minerals and crude, GH¢10.4 billion from cocoa beans, superior quality raw beans, GH¢3.4 billion from cocoa paste and defatted and GH¢ 2.0 billion from cashew nuts in shell.

In terms of top import commodities, Ghana imported GH¢20.2 billion of diesel-automotive gas oil, GH¢14.7 billion worth of light oils, motor spirit and super, GH¢3.1 billion worth of cement clinkers, GH¢2.7 billion worth of used vehicles and GH¢2.1 billion of cereal grains, worked but not rolled or flaked, of other cereal grains, worked but not rolled or flaked, of other cereal. 

A business executive, Yaw Nsarkoh, called for urgent structural changes to the economy to provide a platform that pragmatically supports the country’s industrialisation agenda.

He said the country’s current economic system was underpinned by a neo-liberal identity and colonial structure-based format which could never take off unless it was transformed with a long-term plan in mind.

“We need to have a structural change of our economy; we must shed away this neo-liberal economy and begin to sit down and work out a framework to achieve a shared prosperity,” the executive coach stated.

He said the country would not be able to fully leverage its resources and drive its industrialisation agenda if the status quo remained.

More resources

Mr Dadzawa advocated for an increment in the import levy from the current 0.75 per cent to 25 per cent to enable the authority to meet its annual budget target of $60 million.

"We are targeting $4.8 billion of export revenue this year and we are confident we can achieve that," he told the Graphic Business in an exclusive interview at the agency's head office in Accra.

Mr Dadzawa asserted that despite the huge financial challenge bedevilling his outfit, it distributed GH¢12.8 million worth of free coconut seedlings to farmers across the country to promote non-traditional exports.

"Our new trade house facility in Kenya is set to increase the supply base of some of our key products such as cashew, peanuts and coconut. The training of young entrepreneurs who will be involved in the production and export of goods is also in vogue," he noted.

He added that his outfit is considering setting up other trade houses in China, the United States and South Africa to promote 'Made in Ghana Goods'.

He disclosed that GEPA's biggest constituency is the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). "We take 50 per cent of these SMEs to these international trade shows and buy stands and booths for them for free so that they can sell their products and promote their samples," he stated.

Touching on Ghana's traditional exports, Mr Dadzawa noted that his outfit will organise the first major international trade show in craft as a Trade Promotion Organisation (TPO) on October 15 at Aburi to bring in foreign exchange, promote tourism and showcase Ghana's traditional exports to the world.

"Our trade performance has been increasing at an average of about five to seven per cent, it, however, plateaued between 2017 and 2019. Nonetheless, processing cocoa products, derivatives of cocoa, gives us 1.5 billion dollars in exports while cashew exports amount to about 300 million dollars. These two are our major export products," he stated.

He stressed that his outfit is embarking on a project to promote the aluminium and plastics trade in the ECOWAS sub-region and the continent.