The Chinese Penetration into Ghana & Africa: Can our local businesses succeed...

4th dailyEXPRESS
BREAKFAST SERIES

Alisa Hotel, Ridge- Accra
Wednesday February 28, 2007 at 9am prompt

The Chinese Penetration into Ghana & Africa:
Can our local businesses succeed and how can the financial institutions assist?

China is a big player today, and on every continent they are appear to be forcefully establishing their presence. That country's development has created a growing African business destination, with imports into Africa growing at a steady rate.
Although the Chinese argue that their exports to Africa in 2005 were far less than they imported from Africa, the story cannot be said to be same today. The end result of the aggressive penetration into Africa, which has no end in sight, is the influx of relatively cheaper consumer products, and in some cases inferior.

Whilst some sectors of the economy and indeed some individuals may be happy with the above because of the benefits they derive, the Ghanaian economy can be the end looser.

Contributing to a roundtable discussion on the 2007 Budget, Investment Consultant and Board Chairman of the United Bank for Africa, Kwame Pianim observed that the rise of China and the rate at which it is penetrating the economies of the world would make a proposal in the budget to provide workable incentives to manufacturers to open up job avenues difficult to achieve.

"We must realize that we face an insurmountable challenge. The Chinese threat is real," he said, adding that China's products have become extremely competitive.

In the liberalized trade regime that we have, what should be the way forward for the local manufacturing companies and other businesses facing competition from the Chinese influx?

Is the threat REAL, or our businesses can effectively deal with the competition with the right strategies & and practices? And how best can our financial institutions help grow our local businesses to effectively deal with the threats, if any?
These issues will be the subject for discussion at the 4th dailyEXPRESS BREAKFAST SERIES on Wednesday February 28, 2007 at the Alisa Hotel. Join the discussion and be part of Ghana's thinking board. Call James (024-4807817) or Pearl (024-4736261) today. You can also email [email protected] .
The dailyEXPRESS BREAKFAST SERIES is a monthly discussion platform for policymakers, decision makers, captains of industry, corporate & business executives, politicians, academics etc to share ideas, learn, disseminate a policy decision or engage in a healthy morning debate.