Associate Professor at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Professor Lord Mensah, has asserted that Ghana’s trade relations with Russia has not been heavily impacted by the ongoing war with Ukraine.
He however attested to the influence of the war on Ghana’s economy.
However, in his view, although Ghana has felt some impact of the war in terms of trade, Ghana can still improve trade relations with Russia as the latter will “logically” be open to extending trade to other continents following the European ban.
In an interview with e.tv Ghana’s Samuel Eshun on the “Fact Sheet” show on the topic, “Interrogating the Direct Impact of the Russia-Ukraine War on Ghana’s Economy; Prof Lord Mensah said, “As we speak now, I don’t think trading with Russia would be a problem. You look at the entire war and you realize Ukraine is at the receiving end. So, you can say in terms of the pressure that has been mounted as a result of the war, Ukraine is suffering more than Russia. Russia as we speak because of the European ban on trade and all that, Russia will be prepared to open up to other countries. In a way, Russia is still trading with other countries apart from the Western world which has stopped dealing with them.”
He opined that Ghana can strategize properly around the Russian trade exports and boost confidence in the country’s economy.
“If we still want to go on as far as our export is concerned, which is about 5.2% of our total export, then we can still go on with Russia. Trade in itself has a way of getting to us as far asthe impact of the economy is concerned. Then also, you look at the Ghana portfolio of international trade that we do, clearly Ukraine’s one is just a small portion of it. If we are assuming that in the export side, we are doing a total of 5.5% of the total trade between the two countries and then the import strives doing about 20% as at 2019. Then the 80% we can still go on wand possibly once you realize that you’re having a problem with Russia and the purpose of export and import diversity you can move to other countries and possibly increase your load to other countries.”
‘…For me, in as much as we can say that we have impacts in the interim, if we strategize very well going forward, then I think we should be able to make room for some of the loses that we have incurred as far as these two countries are concerned. For me it’s not a hopeless situation it is something that we can hope for something out of it,” he explained.
The Russia-Ukrainian War has been ongoing for over six years but became very fierce on 24 February when Russia launched a comprehensive invasion of Ukraine, marking a major escalation of the War. The campaign had been preceded by a prolonged Russian military buildup (since early 2021), as well as numerous Russian demands for security measures and legal prohibitions against Ukraine joining NATO.
Ghana’s Head of State has since attributed the poor economic conditions in the country to the impact of the ongoing war on the global economic chain.
By: Jude Tackie
