Concluding remarks by the Chairperson

The fifth Trade Policy Review of Ghana has offered us a good opportunity to deepen our understanding of the main developments in, and challenges to, Ghana's trade, economic, and investment policies since its previous TPR in 2014.

I would like to thank the Ghanaian delegation, led by Hon. Herbert Krapa, Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, for his active role in this exercise. My gratitude also goes to our discussant M. Etienne Oudot de Dainville, Permanent Representative of France to the WTO, for his insightful comments, and to the 19 delegations that took the floor during this meeting. The strong interest in Ghana's trade policies is also evident from the 189 advance written questions submitted by Members.

Members commended Ghana on its strong democratic institutions and political stability, which had contributed to its remarkable socio-economic progress. They welcomed Ghana's efforts under the “Ghana Beyond Aid” vision to diversify and rebuild a more inclusive and sustainable economy. Members praised the resilience of the Ghanaian economy in 2020. However, referring to the Ghana COVID‑19 Alleviation and Revitalisation of Enterprise Support (Ghana CARES — “Obaatan pa”) Programme, it was noted that the mitigation efforts came at the expense of record public debt.

Members praised Ghana for its longstanding commitment to the multilateral trading system. Some Members encouraged Ghana to consider joining the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement as an observer. Noting that numerous WTO notifications, including on agriculture, subsidies, customs valuation, import licensing procedures, and trade-related investment measures (TRIMS), were outstanding, several Members inquired about steps Ghana was taking to improve its notification record. Some Members also encouraged Ghana to join the Joint Statement Initiatives.

Members emphasized Ghana's important role in deepening economic integration in Africa; they recalled that Ghana is the host of the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area. They also noted that, since its last Review, Ghana has entered into bilateral trade agreements with the European Union and the United Kingdom.

As a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Ghana has started implementing the Common External Tariff (CET). However, Members were concerned that, in addition to the customs tariff, numerous other duties and charges are levied on imports, although they are bound at zero on most products. They encouraged Ghana to review its complex border taxes and levies. 

Members acknowledged Ghana's success in attracting foreign investment. However, it was also noted that there was room for improvement to develop a stable and predictable business environment to further attract investment. To this end, Ghana was urged to take steps to address the challenges investors are facing in areas such as customs procedures, transparency in taxation, minimum foreign investment requirements, and the new local participation and local content requirements in the mining and energy sectors, including renewables that the Government is keen to promote.

Members acknowledged structural reforms implemented by Ghana since its last Review through, inter alia, the modernization of its public procurement regime where an electronic system has been introduced (e-procurement); and amendments to its intellectual property regime and participation in a number of WIPO treaties. Ghana has also, for the first time, established a trade remedies regime.

Other areas of interest to Members include trade facilitation and the high incidence of physical inspections at customs; the status of implementation of the ECOWAS CET; procedures for adopting international standards and recognition of equivalent international standards; tendering methods in government procurement and related domestic content requirements; the National Export Development Strategy; and reforms of state-owned enterprises. At the sectoral level, Members' questions covered: agriculture, including import restrictions/permits on poultry meat, impact of the fertilizer subsidy scheme, operations of the National Buffer Stock Company, operations of the COCOBOD as a state-trading enterprise; energy, including the Energy Sector Recovery Programme, incentives for renewables, and plans for oil and gas refining; manufacturing, including the 10-Point Industrialization Agenda, import substitution policy for pharmaceuticals and the increased number of pharmaceuticals subject to import ban, Ghana's automotive policy; and services, including port services that are subject to licensing, the regime on air transport services, and FDI restrictions for hotels.

These are some of the key issues that have emerged from our discussions over our two sessions on Ghana. I hope that the Ghanaian delegation will consider and further reflect on these issues and on the many constructive comments that it has received during this Review. Members look forward to receiving the answers from Ghana to any outstanding questions within one month, at which point the Review will be successfully concluded.