“Ghana is one of Germany’s most important trading partners in sub-Saharan Africa,” reads the German foreign Office’s Ghana page right at the beginning. But what does that mean in concrete terms? Expressed in numbers this means:
- 231,092,000 € – goods of this value were exported to Ghana in 2018
- 394,205,000 € – Goods of this value were imported from Ghana in 2018 (both numbers are from the end of 2018).
Behind these numbers lies a lot of what there is to know about trade. Bilateral trade agreements are often very complex issues that have often arisen out of history. Here are the main pillars of German-Ghanaian trade relations:
Which treaty underlies trade with Ghana?
Ghana gained independence on 6 March 1957 and emerged from the British Crown Colony called Gold Coast. Even then the English were trading with Europe. An official Ghanaian-German international treaty was finally concluded on 23 November 1998. It is an investment protection agreement that officially regulates direct investments in foreign countries.
What are the most important export goods from Ghana?
Ghanaian exports from Germany are mainly crude oil and natural gas, agricultural and animal products, food and animal feed as well as metals (as of the end of 2018).
What are the most important cash crops in Ghana?
In this context, cash crops are primarily (agricultural) products that are produced by a country not for self-sufficiency but for export. In Ghana these are primarily cocoa and beans, followed by products such as coffee, cotton or pineapple.
What are the most popular imported goods to Ghana?
From Germany to Ghana the following goods in particular are imported: machinery, food and animal feed, cars and spare parts, as well as chemical products (end of 2018).
What impact does the EU have on trade with Ghana (EPA)?
The EPA (Economic Partnership Agreement), a trade agreement between the EU and Africa, ensures almost duty-free trade between the two continents. On the one hand, this is good because many products can be imported and exported so inexpensively and bilateral trade is thus strengthened. On the other hand, this agreement also has a strong negative impact on Ghana’s domestic trade and economy, as you can read here in our article.
How will trade between Germany and Ghana develop?
A concrete projection is of course difficult, but the economic indicators are looking positive. In 2017, under the German G20 Presidency, Ghana was included in the G20 initiative “Compact with Africa”. A bilateral “Reform and Investment Partnership” was also concluded in 2017. In concrete terms, this means that Germany not only intends to increase trade with Ghana, but also to invest more in the African country. For this reason, GIZ, the German Society for International Cooperation, has even published a guide for German companies. It bears a name that has long been part of fairafric’s programme: “Ghana – new markets, new opportunities”.
