The Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the Ghana Union of Traders’ Associations, Nana Kwabena Peprah, has warned that the rapid expansion of Chinese-owned shopping malls across the country poses a severe threat to the survival of local businesses.
Addressing the issue on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM’s flagship news programme, Nyankonton Mu Nsem, Nana Peprah urged Ghanaian authorities to intervene swiftly and find a permanent solution to what he described as an unbearable trading environment.
He disclosed that foreign-owned retail enterprises are aggressively taking over the local market, leaving domestic traders struggling to stay afloat.
“These Chinese shopping malls are springing up, and these shopping malls are taking about 60 per cent of our market share, and we think it is having a very negative impact as far as local businesses are concerned,” he stated.
According to him, although the general business environment has shown recent signs of improvement, the unchecked growth of these retail outlets within established commercial centres remains a major worry.
He argued that foreign operators enjoy unfair financial advantages, including accessing loans in their home country at single-digit interest rates below two per cent.
In contrast, Ghanaian traders continue to face steep commercial borrowing costs with interest rates rarely falling below 14 or 15 per cent.
Nana Peprah also raised grave concerns about duty disparities and capital flight, accusing foreign operators of evading heavy port charges whilst siphoning their profits out of the Ghanaian economy. He lamented that local importers pay as much as 55 per cent in duties on import values, whereas foreign competitors often bypass these heavy fees by utilizing alternative supply routes.
“The benefits these foreign businesses get are taken out of Ghana, leaving us with nothing. Ghanaians pay huge sums of money on import duties which these foreign entities simply do not pay,” he lamented.
The GUTA chairman further expressed frustration at regulatory authorities, criticising them for failing to enforce statutory provisions that reserve retail trade exclusively for Ghanaian citizens. He pointed out that Ghanaian traders are strictly prohibited from engaging in local retail markets in China, yet Chinese nationals operate freely in retail trade across Ghana in flagrant breach of national laws.
“Ghanaians cannot go to China and engage in the retail market, but these Chinese come to Ghana, breach our laws, and engage in retail business, depriving citizens of what is legally reserved for them. Authorities have completely failed to crack the whip on those involved in this illegality,” he asserted.
He cautioned that if the government fails to investigate these operations and enforce compliance, the trend will culminate in a national economic crisis that will inevitably push native business owners out of market entirely.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana