TITLE:
Assessing Domestic and Regional Factors Influencing Ghana’s Export Trade in Africa
AUTHORS:
Louis Kofi Desire Atimu, Wenping Luo
KEYWORDS:
Ghana, Africa, Export Trade, Economic Growth, Regional Integration, Infrastructural Development
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.9 No.1,
December
24,
2020
ABSTRACT: Ghana’s
hopes of increasing export trade volumes and destinations to domestic economies
within the African continent in order to foster growth and climb the economic
ladder to become a middle income country is very much achievable. However, this
objective to a great extent depends on regional integration and cooperation
rather than the efforts of one single country or economy. Intermediary
influencers such as distance play a major role in determining export
destinations for Ghana, whilst endogenous issues like customs procedures and
border related issues, tariffs and import quotas, and trade restrictions within
the importing countries heavily affect Ghana’s trade volumes and destinations
within the region. Thus the establishment of robust economic bodies and
platforms to institutionalize universal trade regulations and reforms to
enhance effective trade among member countries and reduce trade transactional
processes, lengthy customs procedures and trade restrictions will not only
affect Ghana positively but all other domestic economies within the region.
Enjoying an effective export trade will also come as a result of the continent
investing heavily in infrastructural development, complemented with effective
transportation systems, better service provision via advanced technologies and
human capital development.