Implement auto policy to boost industry — Expert

Players in the automobile industry have called for a full implementation of the Ghana Automotive Development Policy (GADP) to help position the country as a manufacturing leader in West Africa.

The GADP aims to transform Ghana into a fully integrated and competitive West African auto industry hub. 

The policy offers incentives like corporate tax holidays, import duty exemptions, and attractive financing schemes to boost investment and job creation.

During a forum organised by the Ghanaian German Economic Association (GGEA) in Accra yesterday (June 19), the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Universal Motors, Subhi Accad, said although Ghana now boast of car assembly plants, the automobile industries in many other countries in West Africa were making a lot of progress. 

Taking  Côte d’Ivoire for instance, he said the market had grown to 40,000 cars per year while the Ghanaian market had shrunk to 6,000 cars a year since the establishment of the assembly plant.

He said the  difference was that Côte d’Ivoire  had correct taxation system while their economy was stable and had a  interest rate. 

“You can go to bank in Côte d’Ivoire and pay an interest rate of 8 to 10 per cent against 40 per cent in Ghana and we’ve been in this dilemma for a very long time.

A lot of people in Côte d’Ivoire can afford to buy a car because of the stability in the currency.

I think Ghana needs to get a stable currency and a proper backing system to support this currency else companies cannot do proper business,” Mr Accad said.

The forum 

The forum brought together CEOs, top-level managers, captains of industry and decision makers of member companies as well as other private sector entities. 

It created a platform for participants to discuss issues confronting them and more importantly, explore opportunities to proffer solutions and interact with the government through the ministers.  

The CEO of Consolidated Shipping Agency, MacDonald Vasnani also reiterated the call for the implementation of the GADP, stating that “it's good to have assembly plants here but If you have a plant and you cannot sell then what’s the essence?”

Currently, he said there were many vehicle that had been manufactured by the various assembly plants and were not selling due to the high price tag.

The policy needs to be looked at because you may import vehicle parts at GH200,000 and by the time you finish importing and assembling everything, the price has jumped to GH240,000 so how do you cope? So I believe these are areas  where I think the policy needs to be looked at,” he said.

Mr Vasnani also noted that Cote d'Ivoire had a wider market compared to Ghana although it didn’t have an assembly plant.

“They are buying new vehicles into the market annually so it tells you that something is not right and that needs to change,” he added.