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Civil society cautions government against EPA
Accra, Feb. 28, Ghanadot/GNA – Civil
Society groups have renewed their call on government not to
sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) because of the
inherent dangers that it poses to the country’s future
development.
Ghana, on December 13 last year initialled an interim
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) or EPA-lite with the
European Commission, despite opposition from pressure groups
such as the labour movement and civil society organizations.
The agreement will provisionally allow 80 per cent of some
European goods into the Ghanaian market duty-free and
quota-free while Ghana will continue to have a near 100
percent access to the EU market.
However, at a meeting with the Parliamentary Select
Committees on Trade, Finance and Agriculture members of the
Economic Justice Network reiterated the need for government
not to be consumed by EU’s promises of development aid for
the revenue losses the country would suffer.
Mr. Ibrahim Akalbila, Coordinator, Ghana Trades and
Livelihood Coalition, who spoke on the concerns of civil
society said by signing the agreement government, would lose
its policy space of using tariffs as a development tool.
He said the influx of cheaper goods from companies in the EU
would inevitably sign the doom of local industries, which
were struggling from unreliable provision of utilities.
This will mean financial difficulties of most of the
companies and loss of jobs.
Mr Akalbila said the loss of trade revenue through the free
entry of goods would deny government money to carry out
development activities.
Mr Gyekye Tanoh, Head of the Economic Unit of the Third
Worls Network, said the EU’s move was to integrate and get
its hold on the sub-regional markets of the African
Caribbean and Pacific Countries.
He said by signing individual agreements with countries in
the sub-region, the EU was undermining regional integration
efforts.
Mr Tanoh said even in the area of trade in goods, the EC
included in the interim agreement demands, which had not
been part of the EPA negotiations.
One such demand is for the government to forever eliminate
the use of export taxes, which governments all over the
developing world including Ghana, use when necessary to
discourage the excessive export of locally produced
materials in their raw form, so as to encourage value added
processing and export.
Mr J. B. Danquah Adu, Chairperson of the Parliamentary
Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism, said it was
important that Parliament and civil society worked together
to ensure a better deal for the country.
He said there was the need for governments in the sub-region
to make the ECOWAS trade liberalization scheme work to
enhance integration and improve regional trade.
Mr Adu said Ghana's interim agreement provided for the
immediate abolition of tariffs on virtually all exports to
Europe and for the gradual dismantling over 15 years of
tariffs on 80 per cent of imports from the 27-member bloc.
The remaining 20 per cent of imports are deemed "sensitive
products" which will be subject to tariffs even after the
15-year transition period to promote economic development,
food security, employment and government revenue generation.
GNA
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