Time to apply trade remedies - Freight forwarders

The Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF) has added its voice to the call on government to put in place trade remedies that will check the seemingly over-liberalised bilateral trade agreements that have rendered local firms hapless in competition.

President of GIFF, Kwabena Ofosu-Appiah, told the B&FT in an interview: “There is the need for government to consider renegotiating some of these trade deals in a manner that makes us more inward looking as far as socio-economic development is concerned.”

Key business groups in the country are reeling in the absence of a competition policy or regulation that controls the level of foreign influence in the domestic business market at a time that unfavourable market indicators are having a toll on their profit margins.

The groups including the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) are blaming government for opening its markets too wide to international trade and putting home-based businesses to the disadvantage.

Arguably, Ghana as a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is bound to open its markets to international trade where goods from other WTO-member countries can have free market access.

Also, the WTO’s National Treatment Principle checks against discrimination against such imported goods as it mandates that treatment for imports from WTO member countries should be given the same incentives and favours that are given to domestic like or unlike products

The country however has the right to put in place trade remedies such as anti-dumping, safeguards and countervailing measures to cushion local industries from the threats of such imports.

According to the GIFF president, multinational firms operating in the country are taking advantage of such loopholes as there is no such competition policy to supervise potential foreign investors and commercial entities.

He indicated: “In the past, most of these shipping related services were in the hands of locals; but today, foreign firms have taken over and subsumed the local competition.

“If we are looking to create jobs then these are the areas that government should be looking at because some services such as ship husbandry is something that can be done by locals competently.”

Mr. Ofosu-Appiah said even though there can be the argument that such foreign businesses engage local labour, the economy loses out on the chunk of the money that is repatriated due to the “enticing packages” that such foreign investors enjoy.

“Some people will argue that Ghanaians are being employed by foreign firms but the focus should be on the chunk of the money that are being repatriated,” he noted.

Government, in a bid to protect the interest of locals in the maritime sector, has ceded the business of customs brokerage to Ghanaian companies and more of such interventions, according to the GIFF boss will be the surest bet for the economy to make the most gains from the maritime sector.

He said: “Just as customs brokerage has been ceded so must other services in the maritime sector wherein locals have the comparative advantage be captured and reserved for local industry players.”