The Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, has indicated that the government is intensifying policies aimed at improving access to raw materials, harmonising standards, expanding affordable financing, and strengthening regional value chains as part of efforts to accelerate Africa’s industrial transformation.
She made the remarks during a high-level Ministerial Dialogue on “Accelerating Africa’s Industrial Transformation: Converting Extraction into Value and Building Industrial Champions” on the first day of the Africa Trade Summit in Accra, on January 30.
The dialogue was moderated by the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Simon Madjie.
According to the Minister, Africa’s industrialisation drive will remain constrained if producers continue to grapple with multiple and duplicative standards regimes across the continent, noting that the lack of harmonised standards increases costs, delays trade, and undermines competitiveness under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
She cited cases where Ghanaian products cleared by national regulatory authorities are subjected to fresh testing in other African countries, describing the practice as a waste of time and resources for businesses.
Madam Ofosu-Adjare stressed that standardisation remains one of the most practical tools for accelerating industrialisation and facilitating the free movement of goods across Africa.
Beyond standards, she identified raw material shortages, high financing costs, land availability, and access to incentives as major challenges confronting industries on the continent.
She noted that effective industrialisation requires deliberate policies to guarantee a steady supply of inputs, stressing that factories cannot operate efficiently without reliable raw materials.
To address these challenges, the Minister said Ghana has rolled out the Feed the Industry Programme, which seeks to directly link agribusiness production to industrial demand. Under the initiative, government is mobilising land, youth, and irrigation infrastructure to ensure a consistent supply of raw materials to factories, including targeted support for export-oriented manufacturers.
She also disclosed that Ghana has banned the export of certain non-ferrous raw materials to ensure value addition locally before export, a move intended to secure inputs for domestic industries and strengthen local manufacturing.
On financing, the trade minister noted that improved macroeconomic stability has helped stabilise interest rates in Ghana, while institutions such as the Ghana EXIM Bank are providing support to export-focused industries.
She called for innovative and blended financing models that combine government support, private capital, development finance, and donor funding to ease the financial burden on manufacturers.
The Minister further highlighted Ghana’s strategic focus on sectors such as textiles and garments, pharmaceuticals, and automotive component manufacturing, urging governments to prioritise areas of competitive advantage and provide targeted incentives to help industries scale and operate sustainably.
She also made a strong case for the development of regional value chains, arguing that African countries must move away from competing in isolation and instead coordinate production across borders to maximise shared strengths under AfCFTA.
Earlier in the dialogue, the Deputy Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Fatou Haidara, called on African countries to shift from fragmented national approaches to coordinated regional industrial strategies, noting that AfCFTA will not achieve its full potential without industrialisation.
Liberia’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, Magdalene E. Dagoseh, also pointed to uneven political will, skills gaps, and slow implementation as key obstacles to Africa’s industrial integration, urging stronger coordination, faster implementation, and improved access to financing.
The Ministerial Dialogue concluded with a collective call for African governments to prioritise collaboration over competition, harmonise standards, invest in infrastructure and skills, and align national industrial policies with regional and continental frameworks to unlock sustainable industrial growth.
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