Ghana’s Trade With Burkina Faso Soars

Albert Kassim Diwura granting an interview to journalists

BURKINA FASO has emerged Ghana’s number one trading partner in the West Africa sub-Region.

Nigeria placed fourth on the table of the top 10 trading partners of Ghana in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Burkina Faso in 2018 imported an estimated $238 million, topping other nations like Mali, Benin, Liberia, among others.

Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), Albert Kassim Diwura, made this known Tuesday in Accra at the Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC), fourth quarter CEO’s Breakfast Meeting.

The meeting was under the theme: Promoting Trade and Export Financing to Support Ghana’s Industrialization Drive.

He expressed concerns about Nigeria, which had about 200 people not being able to lead in trading with Ghana.

According to him, aside Burkina Faso, the Netherlands topped in the import of products from Ghana followed by ECOWAS and the European Union.

However, he noted that Ghana could do much better in exports than it was doing currently.

He indicated for instance that in the area of cocoa exports, Ghana had the potential of exporting more than its current volume of export, and therefore called for increased efforts.

Chief Operating Officer of GIPC, Carl Nelson, said the long term goal of the meeting was to collate private sector views on Ghana’s investment space and provide feedback to government on its economic policies.

BY Melvin Tarlue