The United States of America (USA) has lifted the 15% customs tariffs imposed on Ghana’s agricultural exports, including cocoa, the Ghanaian Minister of Foreign Affairs announced this Monday, 24th.
This decision came two months after Ghana revealed that it had concluded an agreement with the US to welcome West African citizens deported from the United States.
The Ghanaian economy suffered with the implementation of customs tariffs set at 10% in April, which were increased to 15% in August, which made the price of Ghanaian products more expensive on the North American market.
The world’s second largest cocoa producer after Ivory Coast, Ghana depends on export revenues to stabilize the currency and finance public expenditure.
“The US administration has officially informed the Ghanaian government that the 15% tariffs imposed by President Trump on cocoa and some eligible agricultural products from Ghana have been eliminated,” Foreign Minister Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa wrote on the social network X today.
This elimination came into force on November 13 and should allow Ghana to “obtain 60 million dollars (around 52 million euros) (…) in additional revenue every year”, according to the Ghanaian minister.
Ghana exports, on average, 78 thousand tons of cocoa beans per year to the United States, the world’s largest importer of chocolate and cocoa-based products.
Cashews, avocados, bananas, mangoes, oranges, limes, plantains, pineapples, guavas, coconuts, ginger and peppers are among the agricultural products, in addition to cocoa, covered by the elimination of tariffs.
In September, Ghana began to welcome dozens of people expelled from the USA, exclusively from West Africa, under an agreement signed with the North American Government.
Rwanda, Essuatiní, South Sudan and Uganda also have agreements with the US to receive expelled migrants.
The US removed Ghana from the list of African countries subject, since June, to restrictions on visa issuance, shortly after the conclusion of this agreement.
“It’s a win-win situation for both countries,” said economist and member of the Political Initiative for Economic Development Amateye Anim-Prempeh, to the France-Presse news agency.
“The cocoa sector, a pillar of Ghana’s agricultural economy, is the one that should benefit most from better access to the American market,” he added.
The Ghanaian economy is still recovering from a recent crisis, marked by a debt default in 2022 and inflation that peaked at 50%.
With GDP growing and public debt decreasing, investor confidence was strengthened, with the country receiving new disbursements from the International Monetary Fund and better ratings from financial rating agencies Fitch, Moody’s and S&P.