The World Bank says additional policy reforms in investment and trade facilitation could help enhance trade flows between Ghana and the sub region.

In its Ghana Trade Competitiveness Diagnostics report, the World Bank urged government to, among other things, take either administrative or regulatory steps to reduce port charges, revise outdated transshipment regime, reduce the number of police checkpoints, and resolve the VAT treatment of transit trade services.

“Several steps are required to simplify and harmonize import and export procedures, and to overhaul the governance framework of the Port of Tema” the report noted.

While commending Ghana’s progress in the transport and logistics services where maritime cargo volume increased by 7.6 per cent on average per annum over the period of 2010 to 2020, the Bank called for infrastructure investments that would facilitate shipping through containers.

“This would reduce the inefficiencies related to the stripping of containers” it added.

The report titled, “Strengthening Ghana’s Trade Competitiveness in the Context of AfCFTA” also showed that Ghana’s trade regime in goods was restrictive as far levels of tariff and non-tariff barriers (NTB) were concerned.

In comparison with other countries as at 2019, the report showed that Ghana’s trade-weighted Most Favored Nation (MFN) tariff rate was 10.57 per cent, higher than most comparators except for Kenya, which has a trade-weighted MFN of 13.35 per cent.

“The number of non-tariff measures (NTMs) imposed by Ghana are higher than in Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire but below levels in Vietnam although further analysis is required to ascertain the extent NTMs are enforced in a discriminatory way” the report highlighted.

Speaking at the launch of the report in Accra, Mr Pierre Laporte, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, said that regional integration, digital innovation, and trade policy was key to driving Ghana’s economic transformation agenda.

The country, he added, could strengthen its trade competitiveness and optimise benefit under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and the Global Value Chain (GVC) through the elimination of NTBs, implementing trade facilitation reforms and enhancing regulatory framework for services.

Mr Herbert Krappa, the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, said the findings of the diagnostics report was a wake up call for government to pursue its transformation agenda

“Government will continue to intensify our best efforts at enhancing our merchandise trade competitiveness. We will continue to invest in trade related infrastructure including ICT digital trade,” he said.