Maritime trade declines to 13m tonnes
The volume of goods passing through the country's two seaports declined by 14.3 per cent to 13 million tonnes in 2015, as a result of the debilitating power crisis, which combined with the exchange rate depreciation to suppressed import and export trade.
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The drop in cargo throughput from 10.8 million tonnes in 2014 to 13 million as recorded in 2015 is the second consecutive reduction in a year. Until 2014, cargo throughput had been growing at an average of 15 per cent per annum.
Data from the Ghana Shippers' Authority (GSA) shows that apart from transit trade, which measures cargoes transiting from the Tema and Takoradi ports into neighboring landlocked countries, both imports and exports declined.
However, transit trade grew marginally from 753,131 tonnes in 2014 to 763,448 tonnes last year, the first growth in five years.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the authority, Dr Emmanuel Kofi Mbiah, explained in an interview that the decline in throu
"The link is that within a short space of time, the exchange rate between a dollar and the cedi moved from about GH¢2.3 to almost GH¢3.3. With that high volatility to the dollar, the capital of some of the people who wanted to import dwindled overnight.
"So, if you had about GH¢500,000 which could give you, about US$200,000, that same GH¢500,000 will now give you US$110,000. What that means is what you could purchase with US$200,000, you will now have to purchase it with US$110,000. With this, you cannot import more goods," he told the Graphic Business.
Power deficit
Many businesses also had to contend with the power crisis. Given that businesses would normally export or import more if demand is booming, Dr Mbiah said information picked up by the authority suggested that the crisis depressed trade within the period.
"Our investigations indicate that a number of companies could not hit the production levels they planned because of the power crisis. Remember that some of the imports are substitutes that the businesses bring in to make finished products and send out.
"But because they do not have power, they will not import more and that is what we saw in the decline," he added.
With the power crisis abating and the cedi stabilising against major foreign currencies, Dr Mbiah said the country could be expected to register an improvement in maritime trade this year.
"It is not so much about the cedi depreciating; it is more of the high rate of volatility. If the depreciation is on a slow pace, then it allows people to plan and there will not be a lot of hiccups," he added.
The cedi has stabilised at GH¢3.8 to a dollar since November, last year, and is now expected to hover around that figure until possible declines in export earnings force it to depreciate again.
"The only snag in all of these is the fact that this is an election year. Normally, in election years, people like to do 'wait and see' and that does not help with imports.
“However, now that we have moved the elections to November, I have no doubt that if we are able to finish the elections peacefully, people will make orders and trade will bounce back," he added.