{"id":98770,"date":"2025-10-16T04:18:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T04:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=98770"},"modified":"2025-10-16T04:18:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T04:18:00","slug":"afcfta-without-value-addition-is-an-empty-dream-chamber-of-commerce-and-industry-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=98770","title":{"rendered":"AfCFTA without value addition is an empty dream \u2013 Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The CEO of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI), Mark Badu Aboagye, says the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will remain an empty dream if African countries continue to trade in raw materials without adding value.<\/p>\n

Speaking on JoyNews\u2019 PM Express<\/em> on October 15, he argued that the essence of AfCFTA is to promote trade in goods and services produced within Africa, but this goal is being undermined by the continent\u2019s weak industrial base.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are trading, you are trading either a product or a service. Only a few countries in Africa produce the things we need because we import finished goods and export raw materials,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot export cassava to any of our countries around; they don\u2019t need it either. But if you are adding value, that is when African countries will need our products.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Badu Aboagye stressed that Africa\u2019s export profile makes the free trade pact ineffective. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfCFTA is challenged with the products and services we have, because everything we have is in its raw form,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His comments follow China\u2019s zero-tariff agreement with Ghana and other African countries\u2014a deal he believes highlights the continent\u2019s vulnerability. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t export cocoa to China, you either export to other countries, because the cocoa will be here and nothing will happen to it. We cannot add value to it,\u201d he lamented.<\/p>\n

He said African nations have little choice in international trade because they export low-value raw goods and import high-value finished products. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you say you\u2019re angry and don\u2019t agree with this arrangement, what are you going to do\u2014chew the cocoa raw?\u201d he asked. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe value of unprocessed goods is very low, so we don\u2019t have an option.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to him, even in cases where African countries can choose where to import from, Chinese products remain dominant due to their competitive pricing. <\/p>\n

\u201cChinese products are very competitive in terms of price and cost per unit,\u201d he noted. <\/p>\n

\u201cYour people also would want to import because of the price levels. Looking at their purchasing power, they will prefer the low-price products.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Badu Aboagye said the imbalance is worsened by Africa\u2019s failure to industrialise. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pushed in such a way that we don\u2019t have an option, because the goods we have to export, we have not added value to them,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cCountries that import from Ghana are not taking our cocoa or gold. They are importing some of our finished products\u2014like pharmaceuticals and rubber-related goods\u2014from us. Those are the things they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that African countries export raw rubber to China instead of processing it for regional markets. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf we had added value to the raw rubber, we could have exported to many countries around us. That\u2019s where we make money,\u201d he emphasised.<\/p>\n

Mr Badu Aboagye cautioned that trade agreements are often structured to benefit external partners. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf anybody wants to enter into any trade agreement with you, don\u2019t think they love you,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cMany come to Ghana to export their products, not to partner with us in manufacturing. Only a few are looking at how they can produce with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

He warned that this import-heavy model is eroding Africa\u2019s productive base and worsening unemployment. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you do not produce, you kill the productive sector and destroy jobs,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have resigned ourselves to importing everything. We\u2019ve been talking about the structure of our economy for years\u2014but it\u2019s still broken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Badu Aboagye concluded that unless African countries invest in value addition and industrial production, AfCFTA will remain a paper promise, unable to transform the continent\u2019s economies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"AfCFTAThe CEO of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI), Mark Badu Aboagye, says the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will remain an empty dream if African countries continue to trade in raw materials without adding value.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4829,319,2006,2092,1883,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-afcfta","category-economy","category-hp-news-7","category-mark-badu-aboagye","category-national","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}