Ghana-UK: Tariff liberalisation under interim trade agreement begins today
Tariff liberalisation measures agreed on in the interim trade agreement between Ghana and the United Kingdom commences today, Wednesday, September 1, 2021.
The tariff liberalisation exercise will see Ghana reduce some tariffs on goods coming from the UK.
The interim trade pact ratified by the parliament of Ghana in May this year after the UK completed processes to exit the European Union (EU), provided an opportunity for the two countries to renegotiate new tariff regimes since the UK could no longer rely on the EU trade terms with its partners.
Already, Ghana is benefiting from the treaty as vegetable and fruit exporters enjoy duty and quota-free access to the UK market for goods originating from Ghana.
“This is an important agreement because without the ITPA, about two-thirds of Ghana’s non-traditional exports would have to face higher tariffs with the potential to suffocate Ghana’s fast-growing non-traditional exports,” said Anthony Nyame-Baafi, Technical Advisor in charge of Multilateral, Regional and Bilateral Trade at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
The agreement, he asserts, covers trade in goods and development cooperation and includes rendezvous clauses for future negotiations on services and other trade-related issues.
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Adding that the agreement also looks at all issues that could come up in modern trade treaties such as trade defence mechanisms, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures, trade facilitation and dispute settlement.
Describing the deal as beneficial to Ghana’s economy, Mr. Nyame-Baafi maintained that Ghana will enjoy 100% duty-free quota-free market access to the UK for all imports from Ghana except arms and ammunition.
In fulfilling the agreement, he stated that Ghana is obliged to asymmetrically and progressively open 80% of the country’s market to UK goods, taking full account of the differences in levels of development between Ghana and UK.
“Ghana will also exempt 20% of sensitive and special imports products from the UK to Ghana,” he added.
Although Ghana may lose some revenue due to the tariff liberalisation measures in the trade pact, Mr Nyame-Baafi points out that the country will enjoy development cooperation and financial support in return from the UK.
