Ghana's retail sector not dominated by foreigners - Trade Minister

The Minister for Trade, Agribusiness, and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, has challenged claims of widespread foreign infiltration of Ghana’s retail market.

She attributed the perceived dominance of foreigners to the practice of fronting, where Ghanaian citizens operate businesses on behalf of foreign traders.

Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on January 21, 2026, the Minister said claims that foreigners controlled about 70 percent of the retail sector lacked factual basis and were inconsistent with her observations during market visits across the country.

“I can say for sure, without any scientific basis, that foreigners are not responsible for 70 percent of our retail markets. I don’t need rocket science; I just need to go to the market and look around,” she stated.

Under Section 27 of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre Act, 2013 (Act 865), sectors such as petty trading, market operations, and small-scale taxi services are reserved exclusively for citizens to protect local livelihoods and promote indigenous entrepreneurship.

Ofosu-Adjare said the central issue was not an influx of foreign retailers but the tendency of Ghanaians to register businesses in their own names and operate as fronts for foreign owners.

“Even those foreigners in the retail trade are being fronted by Ghanaians. If you enter a shop right now, you see a Ghanaian manning it. What justification do you have for closing that shop because it doesn’t belong to a Ghanaian, when it is being run by a Ghanaian?” she asked.

She explained that enforcement was constrained by the lack of evidence, as businesses legally registered under Ghanaian names and operated by Ghanaians could not be sanctioned, even when beneficial ownership was foreign.

“The name of the game is evidence. You go to the Registrar General and pull a document showing it belongs to a Ghanaian. But so long as we keep fronting for them, registering for them, there is nothing anybody can do. Because then, you’ll be sued,” she cautioned.

The Minister thus urged Ghanaians to desist from facilitating foreign participation in the reserved retail sector, saying that foreigners operating openly without local fronts could be easily identified and dealt with.

“Don’t front for them. Let them come openly into the retail market, and we’ll do the needful,” she said.