Episode #60:
“The ECOWAS Common External Tariff is necessary because it is helping us
as a body to have a fair due for our producers...” – former ECOWAS Staff
AFRICA IN FOCUS SHOW
ACCRA, Ghana – Independent
Economic Consultant Frank Ofei believes the Common External Tariff (CET) that
Ghana has begun implementing on 1 February “is to prepare us to be competing on
even ground.” He contends “the CET is a good instrument, but like every
instrument, it is how we position ourselves on how to use it.”
Speaking to host E.K.Bensah Jr on
the “Africa in Focus” Show, Ofei, who is a former ECOWAS Staff with nineteen
years as a Director of Economic Policy at the-then ECOWAS Secretariat,
explained that his take-home message is “everybody who wants to comment on
it...should put it in proper context. If you take certain products, you must
know what the rates were before the CET; what rates there are now, and the
reason behind the change – if there is any change.” He continues “from there,
you can protest, comment and make suggestions. The thing is that the CET has
been adopted, but if it is realised that it is doing more harm...than good,
then the country has a duty to back to ECOWAS and say ‘this is not working right...
for the long-term development of the region as a whole.’”
He believes “this kind of
analysis and feedback” of the Common External Tariff “needs to be done.”
According to Ofei the CET “is
saying that all the ECOWAS are adopting the same rates of customs duties for
goods imported into the country. Before the adoption of this, each country had
its own rate, with some of them having four bands.” He says that some even had
as many as fifteen bands. The idea is for all States to adhere to a
categorisation of bands. “There is a negotiation of what products go into
particular groups under what particular rate.” ECOWAS inherited the UEMOA rates
of 0, 5 and 20 percent. They would eventually add a fifth band, which was fixed
at 35 percent. This covers sensitive products.
The second important issue that
comes up, Ofei maintains, is that the CET is not just a customs duty to raise
revenue. He adds “It is a policy instrument for encouraging production, for
protecting health, defence and security.”
The host spent the better part of
the show discussing with Ofei aspects of ECOWAS’ integration, including the
regional significance of the CET; the ECOWAS Biometric ID Card and the future
of Guinea-Bissau.
Ofei expressed surprise at the
fact that an impoverished and fairly-illiterate country like Niger would be the
country where the Biometric ID Cards would be launched by the International
Organisation for Migration.
Pressed by the host to elaborate
on Guinea-Bissau which Bensah described as “the black sheep of ECOWAS”, Ofei clarified
that “recently, there was an ECOWAS package to move the country to a more
viable state of affairs, but wouldn’t want to label GB a “black sheep”, because
the policy in ECOWAS is that every country has its own challenges, and so what
it does is look at what each country brings on board positively.” He went on “a
number of initiatives have been started for Guinea-Bissau, and similar things
were done for Cote d‘Ivoire.” He contends “at various levels, ECOWAS has
country-specific measures to address issues”, such as Special Representative. He
agrees there must be “focus at the regional level on how to bring GB out of
problems looking at specific issues that can be better-addressed at the
regional level.”
ENDs
------
The “Africa in Focus” Show is
hosted by Emmanuel.K.Bensah Jr from 14h00 to 15h00 every Wednesday. You can
download all podcasts from www.africainfocusradioshow.org. Follow the
conversation on twitter on @africainfocus14, using #africainfocus
No comments:
Post a Comment