TAG: Ghana
Last month, 44 African nations gathered in Kigali to sign an agreement establishing a framework for the world’s largest free trade area (FTA) since the creation of the World Trade Organisation in 1995 – but how ready is Africa for such a deal? And to what extent will the Continental FTA (CFTA) be able to enhance intra-regional trade?
With resource-dependent markets recovering from the commodity price shock and the Continental Free Trade Area signed off by 44 nations just last month, Africa’s growth prospects are bright. The UN has forecast GDP to grow by 3.5% in 2018, and sentiment among business leaders is equally strong. In OBG’s Business Barometer: Africa CEO Survey – which interviewed 1000 C-suite executives in nine African markets – 84% of respondents had positive or very positive expectations about local business conditions for 2018, while 74% said that their business was likely or very likely to make a significant capital investment.
After sustained GDP expansion over the last decade, reaching into the double digits, the Ghanaian economy has slowed recently due to a drop in export revenues, a depreciating currency and a widened fiscal deficit. However, the new government’s aggressively pro-business agenda and the country’s fundamentals – a developed private sector, political stability, transparent regulatory frameworks and a wealth of natural resources remain attractive.