The Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (GUTA) is calling on authorities to be bold and clamp down on foreigners operating in the retail space.
According to GUTA, the retail market, which hitherto was reserved for Ghanaians has now become a safe haven for foreigners, particularly, Chinese traders who flood the market with cheap products.
Speaking at the Customs, Controls and Regulations Forum organised by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, (GIPC), the President of GUTA, Joseph Obeng, noted that foreigners are invading Ghana’s retail space with subsidized goods from overseas.
This, Mr. Obeng lamented is gradually pushing Ghanaian traders and manufacturers out of business.
“We have China Mall and China Town, which have taken over 40% of the market, and are derailing the efforts of local manufacturers.”
“All they do is to have their subsidized goods being dumped here (in Ghana) and we do not have the courage to clamp on them,” he opined.
He revealed that the market share of Ghanaian traders keep diminishing.
“The local traders’ component is only 20%. The bulk of the goods is brought in by foreign traders.”
He furthered that the actions of the foreign traders who often expatriate their earnings in foreign currencies is one of the reasons for the cedi’s free fall.
“They don’t bring the correspondent forex for trading, they only go to the black market and change the forex and destroy our economy.”
Over the years regulators have failed to deal with the issue of dumping in Ghana’s retail space. Though the laws of the country requires that certain retail businesses are handled by Ghanaians, it appears foreigners are gradually creeping into such spaces.
The aim of the Customs, Controls and Regulations forum, which is organised by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre deliberated on issues affecting businesses and the investor community.
It also leverages the avenue to prioritize investor concerns and inform policy reforms.
Credit: Isaac Atta-Osei