Speaker: 00:00:06

Welcome everyone to the Sound of Accra podcast, um Adrian here.

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Hope you guys are doing well.

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Now on today's episode, what I want to talk about is Ghana going from being a nation that

is so used to importing foods and material products to becoming a nation that's now

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producing and taking ownership of producing its own food, of producing of its own material

products.

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So I want to go straight into it.

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If you're watching on YouTube, listening on the podcast platforms,

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drop us a like, leave us a comment whilst you're here and let's go straight into it.

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Now I wanna base this episode on this main article and it says Africa's pasta capital bans

import to protect its first domestic factory.

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So that's from Business Insider Africa and it reads here, if you read the main bit of the

article, says Ghana's banned the import of pasta by land to curb smuggling just days after

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opening its first domestic pasta processing plant.

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The country's finance ministry also announced restrictions on the importation of cooking

oil, rice, sugar, textiles and frozen foods according to a post from Exxon Monday.

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The measures are aimed at protecting government tax revenues and shielding local

industries from cheaper smuggled goods.

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President John Mohamed touched on the policy during the inauguration of a new pasta

facility operated by Olam Agri, Bloomberg.

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So that's the main bit of the article and also says here that between 2021 and 2024 Ghana

imported about 140 million dollars worth of pasta making it the second largest importer of

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the product in Africa after Nibiru and Togo.

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We love pasta.

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What I'm going to say is one word, Wache.

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That's probably why.

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All right, so let's talk about this one, all right?

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So let's start with the big picture, okay?

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Now for years, Ghana has been known as a consumer economy more than a producer economy.

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And because of this, okay, we import tin tomatoes, rice, sugar, pasta, towels, glass, you

name it.

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You walk through Makala, Canais, you any major market and you see shelves full of imported

brands from Europe, Asia and other parts of Africa.

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That model is always going to come with a cost.

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It puts pressure on the city because we need foreign currency to pay for all those

imports.

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Meanwhile, it exports jobs out of Ghana, which is, you know, not a great thing.

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because the factories and the value addition is always going to happen elsewhere.

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So something needed to change and I'm glad the Mohama's administration is doing something

about this.

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And it always leaves us vulnerable to external shocks, whether it's global price spikes or

even border closures as well.

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Now under Mohama's current term, the message coming from the presidency is very different.

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mean, Ghana is no longer content clearly to be just a consumer and important economy.

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the focus is now on industrialization, value addition, and positioning Ghana as a

manufacturing hub in West Africa.

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And the numbers are starting to take that shift.

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I mean, if we look at this article here as well, which you should be able to see, it says

here that Ghana overtakes Cote d'Ivoire as the second largest economy in West Africa,

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right?

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And that's from Joy Online.

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That's a great source, all right?

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And you can see here, it says in 2022, something happened that most of us didn't notice.

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In 2022, Cote d'Ivoire overtook Ghana as the second largest economy in West Africa.

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Nigeria has always been the first with about a GDP of 300 billion.

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I mean, Nigeria is always going to be the biggest economy in West Africa, let's face it.

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I'm not surprised by that.

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And Ghana followed with a GDP of around 75 billion.

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So a few years ago, we weren't doing that great.

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But today, Ghana's GDP has exceeded 100 billion markets, estimated at 113 billion.

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So we've now moved away from...

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you know, not performing as great.

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So we're doing much, much better these days.

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So this is a win for Ghana, a massive, massive win for Ghana.

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What can I say here?

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Really and truly, the focus now is on industrialization, it's on value addition, and it's

on positioning Ghana as the manufacturing hub in West Africa.

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So we've gone from one of the nations in one of the biggest nations in West Africa that

imports probably the most products to becoming

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one of the main nations that is now producing some of the most products.

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And this is a massive win for Mohamed's administration and for Ghana as a whole.

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And it's kind of given me some kind of, you know, reminiscence to the Kwame Nkrumah era,

you know, which was heavily about creating industries.

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So could this be Mohamed, could Mohamed's administration be Kwame Nkrumah 2.0?

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I don't know.

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We're gonna have to see how this goes.

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uh But essentially, uh

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you know, we are doing better in terms of our production, which is fantastic.

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So yeah, that's pasta for you, all right?

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We've imported a lot of pasta.

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Main reason is Wachi, you know, that's pretty much the main reason why we import so much

pasta because of the spaghetti that we eat in the Wachi.

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So of course you need to create a lot more pasta to help the Wachi.

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Yeah, so we have gone through a lot so far in terms of what we're doing in terms of

producing, but going on in terms of the stories from today.

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instead of important so much past, think Ghana is now in position where it can produce it

locally.

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I think this is really important to supply our own huge domestic demand and potentially

export to our neighbors in the future.

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I think it's clear that this is an example of a policy shift.

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I mean, we're talking trade rules, border controls.

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industrial policy or going back to Ghana based production, is important.

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But past is just one piece.

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Let's zoom out and talk about the wider industrial story.

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All right.

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There's so much to talk about.

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I mean, if we talk upon this story as well.

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So Mahama launches $250 float glass factory in Shamma deepening Ghana, China industrial

corporation.

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So so much is going on in terms of uh industrialization and production in Ghana right now.

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I want to talk about this, okay?

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So now when you're talking about the float glass factory, essentially, Mahama broke ground

in the $250 million float glass factory in the Western region in partnership with Kida

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Gana Ceramics and Chinese investors.

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Now this factory will produce flat glass for construction, windows and other industrial

uses.

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products that Ghana has historically imported.

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So this is the key area that I want to discuss that so much that we've imported from the

West or from other parts of Africa, we're now starting to import, sorry, we're now

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starting to create ourselves, which is really important.

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So this project will also deepen Ghana and China's industrial corporation and it'll sit

alongside multiple ceramic tile production lines that Kida has already rolled out.

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At the same event,

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Mahabhar highlighted that Ghana's GDP, yes, as I mentioned earlier on, he also highlighted

that Ghana's GDP has crossed to over 113 billion, so we're on the up guys, which is really

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important.

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And what's also important to stress here is that he linked this performance already to

industrial expansion.

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So facilities like towel plants, sanitary ware, factories, this is now the Float Glass

project.

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So there's so many projects going on right now at the same time.

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So beyond glass and pasta.

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There's also a talk and activity around the world's largest clay cement uh clay based

cement facility, sorry, being anchored in Ghana.

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And this aims to use local raw materials for cement production instead of relying so

heavily on the important in the imported clinker.

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Now the government is saying and local media saying that these cement investments are

already pushing prices down by around 20 % in the domestic market relieving some pressure.

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on the construction sector and on ordinary garnets trying to build, which is really,

really, really important.

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We're also seeing the commissioning of various other things, such as modern sanitary ware,

factories, new ceramic tile lines, again, substituting the imports with local production

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and opening up export potential into neighbouring countries.

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Now, Mahama has been clear in its messaging that garnets should not remain just a buyer of

finished goods.

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it must be a manufacturing giant in West Africa.

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So when we talk about industrialization inside Ghana, this is one side of the coin, but

the other side of the coin is who we actually go in to sell to, and that's what I want to

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discuss now.

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So this is where the African continental free trade area comes in.

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So this creates a single African market with an estimated combined GDP of over three

trillion dollars.

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And this reduces the tariffs and non-tariff barriers among participating countries.

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So effectively making it more cost effective to sell across Africa to one another.

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And so for a country like Ghana, which already hosts the AFCFTA Secretariat in Accra,

that's a massive opportunity for us to move from just supplying our domestic market to

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supplying the entire continent.

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And this is a win.

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This is another step forward for Ghana, which we really need right now.

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If Ghana can get its manufacturing base right from pasta and processed foods to tiles,

glass, sanitary ware and cement, it can plug directly into this continental market with

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fewer trade barriers.

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Now, Mohamed's narrative is that Ghana must position itself now during his mandate to be

one of those winners, one of the countries that doesn't just consume under this

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continental um free trade market, but actually produces at scale and exports.

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This means aligning with industrial policy, customs, reforms and infrastructure with this

$3 trillion opportunity.

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So how does this affect Ghanaians?

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How does this affect the wider diaspora?

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want to discuss this right now.

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Now, how does this affect all of us?

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mean, all of this feeds into Muhammad stated mandate, which is to engineer an economic

reset that shifts Ghana from a fragile import dependent model to a more resilient

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production driven

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one that keeps more value and brings more cities into the country.

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I mean, if we go back only a few years ago, seeing articles like this, know, 2024 from tin

tomatoes, the toilet was gone as costly import bill revealed.

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And we're talking, you know, 13.7 billion importing items in 2023, which is absolutely

outstanding.

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This is ridiculous.

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We need to do a lot better than that.

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And which is why I'm really pleased with what the government is currently doing, setting

up all of these different factories and industries, because it's really, really, really

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important.

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This all feeds into my harm is mandate, and it makes us more of a production driven

country rather than the import driven country, which is the transition that we're going

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through right now.

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And it brings more value to the country, more investors, and it keeps the strength of the

city high.

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So for us as a diaspora, know, for us that maybe lives in Ghana or migrates to Ghana,

we're going to get more for our buck there, which is really, really important.

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So as you guys can see, all of these are fantastic.

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All these developments, they're fantastic and it's going to push us forward as a country,

but it's not going to be an easy challenge.

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Protecting local industries by restricting imports can help domestic factories grow, but

it can also raise concerns about

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higher prices for consumers if competition drops or if local producers can become placent.

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There are also questions about implementation.

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Can customs and border agencies actually enforce these bans?

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I mean, that's going to be a challenge in order to do that without creating new

opportunities for corruption and smuggling.

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So when you create a new opportunity sometimes, sometimes it creates a new problem.

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So that's something that we also need to navigate as a country as well.

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Then there's the issue of sustainability.

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So for Ghana's industrial boom,

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to last, in order for it to last, we need reliable power.

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You know, we have the doomsaw, we have the intermittent power challenges as well.

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We need efficient ports, we need good roads with solid regulations and access to finance

for small and medium sized suppliers that feed into these big factories.

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So we're all going to need to play our part here, you know, in order for us to move

forward, you know, do understand?

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It's really, really important.

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If we see this article here on LinkedIn, this is from Yanik Deezer, and he says,

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Now the bigger picture is by 2050 Africa's urban population will double.

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We need to build millions of homes, schools, roads and hospitals.

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The real question is what will we build them with?

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know, so it's really key that we get our act together so that we can, you know, make

things like this a reality.

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It's so, so, so, so important.

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Honestly, I can't stress how important it is.

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All right.

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Now the real test for Mohamed's economic research will be whether five to 10 years from

now these industries are competitive enough to export.

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consistently after or under the Africa free trade continental market and not just survive

behind protective walls.

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So there you have it my global gardening citizens.

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What do you think about all of this?

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Are new factories actually operating at high capacity and creating new jobs?

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Do export volumes of manufactured goods begin to rise?

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Does the city remain relatively stable backed by stronger production and exports?

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and do ordinary guardians feel the impact in terms of prices and opportunities?

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Let me know your thoughts, always willing to hear from you guys.

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Or you can feel free to head over to our website.

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There we go.

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Perfect.

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So there you have it guys.

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Let me know your thoughts.

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Looking forward to hearing from you.

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If you made it to the end, thank you so much.

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God bless and I'll catch you on the next one.

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Take care.

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Bye bye.