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 favourable business environments.
Some of them who have been speaking to Citi Business News lament the impact of the dwindling production levels over the lack of raw materials, rising cost of operation as well as the cedi depreciation.
For the Corporate Affairs Manager of Blue Skies Limited, Alistair Djimatey, 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 maximise this opportunity that we have to produce to meet demand and compete with the other companies outside Ghana,” he told Citi Business News.
Ghana’s Parliament in 2016, ratified the EPA.
The country is among other regional and global economies who have agreed to improve trade facilitation between themselves and Europe.
The agreement is however expected to take off as implementers are awaiting some West African countries to sign onto the treaty.
The agreement will allow some 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.
Some analysts have equally rejected the plan saying it will result in dumping of goods from the European market.
But Mr. Djimatey himself a supporter of the EPA maintains that the right framework should help them favourably 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.
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By: Pius AmihereEduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana