Category: Ghana

Podcast explores latest developments across Africa

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The latest episode #122 of Sheppard Mullin’s popular NOTA BENE podcast features Primerio’s Andreas Stargard, exploring “Africa Q2 Check In: Economic Growth and Relevance.”

Africa continues to strive for economic growth through various trade partnerships and foreign investments, but long-standing challenges remain an impediment in certain respects. Is Twitter’s decision to open an African base in #Ghana any indication of the continent’s economic potential? We’re joined by #Africa competition and markets expert, Andreas Stargard, a co-founding senior member of Primerio Ltd., as he shares insights on Africa’s economic outlook in Q2 of 2021.

You can listen to it for free on all major ‘podcatchers,’ including here:

Ghana slowly inches towards antitrust law

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As one of two key West African nation states (the other being Nigeria), Ghana still lacks functioning competition legislation at the close of 2018.  Adding to the chorus of calls for the introduction of a Ghanaian antitrust act, the local branch of the global advocacy group CUTS (“Consumer Unity and Trust Society”), has now asked the government to ensure a currently pending draft competition bill becomes law in 2019.  The bill is, at present, before the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General’s Department for further consideration, prior to being presented to Parliament.

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Speaking on the topic of “Competing Without Market Rules” at the annual U.N. World Competition (Antitrust) Day, CUTS’ local director is quoted as deploring the absence of any competition policy or law, allowing unscrupulous firms to engage in conduct that would be deemed illegal virtually anywhere else and impeding the proper functioning of the Ghanaian market in the process.

Notably, Ghana’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremanten, provided a written statement, noting that the country’s government was formulating its approach to competition policy with an eye toward enacting a law that would go beyond the relatively ineffectual Protection Against Unfair Competition Act, dating back to 2000 (Act 589).  Goals of enacting a more effective competition legislation would be to promote private sector development, economic growth, poverty reduction and increasing Foreign Direct Investment.

Positive outlook for Ghana M&A activity

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Future of Ghanaian M&A deals promising, according to bankers

The Benso Oil Palm Plantation and FanMilk International deals (both involving foreign investment in the country) over the past year are merely an indication of an upward mergers & acquisitions trend, according to a GhanaWeb report.

Usually, with increased merger activity comes heightened competition scrutiny, of course — not so in Ghana, however, as the West-African country still lacks an antitrust and merger-review law.  AAT noted in December:

[Ret. Ghanaian Supreme Court] Justice Date-Bah, who has held visiting academic positions at Oxford and Yale Law School, deplored the legislature’s previously failed attempts of enacting a comprehensive competition law, calling for the country to do so to ensure proper market dynamics.

The most recent economic report quotes Randolph Rodrigues, sr. investment banker at Stanbic Bank Ghana, as predicting “a rise in M&A activity in the country given the increasing emphasis on local content across sectors in the country.”

“The renewed quest for the institution of local content requirements across industries is expected to drive a wave of M&A activity, with larger foreign-owned enterprises seeking partnership opportunities with indigenous operations to continue to grow within the legal framework of their respective industries. Banks are well placed to lead the way in advisory services.”

In AAT’s view, four factors may contribute to the anticipated deal volume and influx of foreign investment, of which one is competition-law based: (1) the absence of antitrust hurdles, as noted above, (2) the relatively open Ghanaian economy, (3) stable political climate (unlike its distant neighbor at the moment, Nigeria), and (4) high intrinsic growth rate of Ghana’s GDP:

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Ghana’s GDP growth (blue line) compared to Kenya and Cameroon

More antitrust? Calls for competition legislation in Ghana

Posted on by andreasstargard

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Former Ghanaian Supreme Court Justice calls for competition law

According to online reports, Mr Samuel Date-Bah, retired Justice of the Ghanaian Supreme Court and Council Chairman of the University of Ghana, made some strong public comments on the economic necessity of creating a new West-African antitrust regime at a conference on December 5, 2013, also known as “World Competition Day”.  The event was the “Policy Roundtable Discussion on Competition Reforms in Ghana,” organized by CUTS International, held in the capital of Accra.

The article reports that Justice Date-Bah, who has held visiting academic positions at Oxford and Yale Law School, deplored the legislature’s previously failed attempts of enacting a comprehensive competition law, calling for the country to do so to ensure proper market dynamics.

Other panelists, such as Dr Edward Brown, Director of Policy Advisory Services at the African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET), reportedly supported the Justice’s position on the need for a Ghanaian competition-law regime and called for its integration into the regional supranational bodies of ECOWAS and UEMOA.