On a state visit to Accra last week, Kenya’s President William Ruto and his host Ghana’s leader Nana Akufo-Addo, witnessed the signing of several bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding.
One of the agreements was between the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) and the Kenya Investment Authority (KIA). Others were between the Association of Ghana Industries and the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, a kind of peer-to-peer relationship.
There are not many similarities. But the ones that do exist could help boost trade. They are among Africa’s most stable economies (although Ghana, like Kenya, has struggled with foreign debt).
Read: Africa debt rises as restructuring efforts drag on
They are also among the eight countries on the continent initially selected to test a trade deal under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA).
The results of this experiment, which began in September 2022, should inform AfCTA on whether trade between African countries in different parts of the continent is viable at all.
In Africa, trade has often been hampered by a lack of manufacturing, meaning that countries produce similar products that cannot be sold across borders. This is in addition to the many tariff and non-tariff barriers such as language differences, currency conversion problems, infrastructure problems and insecurity.
But since AfCTA was signed five years ago, enthusiasts like Ghana and Kenya have been looking for opportunities.
Kenya, famous the world over for its tea, fresh flowers and tourism as major foreign exchange earners, has dangled these to Africans who do not produce them.
It has also offered steel products, titanium ore and gemstones. Ghana, formerly known as the Gold Coast, is Africa’s second-largest gold producer.
The West African nation of 30 million people has recently discovered oil and has other vast mineral deposits including diamonds, manganese, limestone, bauxite, iron ore, clays and granite.
Source: Trade Finance
