“MAKE THE EPA MEANINGFUL” – GHANAIAN EXPORTERS TO GOVERNMENT

Ghanaian exporters have intensified appeals for the government to improve their lot and make them competitive ahead of the eventual implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

According to them, they should be able to stand the competition from their foreign counterparts should they operate within favorable business environments.

Some of them have lamented on the impact of the dwindling production levels over the lack of raw materials, rising cost of operation as well as the cedi depreciation.

Corporate Affairs Manager of Blue Skies Limited, Alistair Djimatey, says the development if allowed to go unresolved, will be very unfortunate. “It will be very unfortunate if with all these opportunities we are not able to take advantage of to maximize this opportunity that we have to produce to meet demand and compete with the other companies outside Ghana”.

Ghana’s Parliament ratified the EPA in October 2016 and Ghana is together with Ivory Coast the only country among ECOWAS that have agreed, signed and ratified the EPA to improve trade facilitation between themselves and Europe.

The agreement will allow all Ghanaian exports to the European Market duty and quota free and vice versa. Major exporters have advocated that Ghana signs onto the deal as it has a lot of opportunities for the economy at large.

Mr. Djimatey himself a supporter of the EPA maintains that the right framework should help them favorably compete to expand their market across the globe.

“The EPA is the way to go however we think we need to work on getting our production capacity increased so that we will be able to take advantage of the opportunities that the EPA provides for factory such as this so we will be able to meet the production demand of our customers outside Ghana,” he added.