Government warned against signing Economic Partnership Agreement

Mr Richard Amparbeng, Deputy General Secretary of the Public Service Workers Union (PSWU), on Tuesday called on government to abstain from signing the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union.

He explained that under the EPA, Ghana’s exports to the European market would be 100 per cent exempt from customs and other duties while exports from the EU to Ghana would enjoy 80 per cent exemption from similar duties and levies.

Mr Amparbeng was addressing the Volta Regional Delegates’ Conference of the PSWU in Ho, said under that trade arrangement Ghana would lose the bulk of its revenue from import duties on goods from the European Union (EU).

He said the Ghanaian market would also be flooded with very cheap goods from the EU which would result in the collapse of Ghanaian industries and unemployment.

He said if the EU meant well for Ghana and its trading partners in Africa the EU should revisit Cotonou 2 and allow bananas, yams and poultry from Ghana and Africa into its market to stimulate economic activities and employment generation.

Mr Amparbeng called on organized labour to pressurize government to refrain from signing the agreement because government might cave in to pressures from the EU and its proxies, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to sign the agreement.

He said organized labour in the EU countries had played useful roles in bailing out their governments from acceding to arrangements which they deemed detrimental to their economic interests.

Source: GNA