Ghana must urgently modernize its Special Economic Zone (SEZ) law and streamline SME support policies if it is to strengthen industrial competitiveness and fully harness the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). This is according to Louis Yaw Afful, Executive Director of the AfCFTA Policy Network Group.
According to him, “special economic zone laws should be given the immediate attention when Parliament convenes because it will fit into the expansion of the 24-hour economy, where the government wants to look at Industrial Parks. All these are just by-products of a good special economic zone methodology.”
His intervention follows an African Union report that flagged financing constraints for SMEs, weak SME–SEZ linkages, and outdated legislation as key risks undermining Ghana’s industrial ambitions.
Afful argued that coordination among agencies remains one of the country’s biggest bottlenecks. “Agencies and departments and the Ministry of Trade should align with the policies. Most of the time, there is a disconnect between policy and implementation,” he noted.
On SMEs, he called for a broader review of existing frameworks, particularly the role of the Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA). “For the SMEs, I think Ghana Enterprise Agency needs to also realign its policies and review its mandates. The startup law, we need to look at pre-financing startup laws, we need to look at financing ideas and concepts which are very, very important. It’s a new thing that is being done elsewhere,” he said.
Afful further urged policymakers to recognize the gig economy as a growing force in Ghana’s labour market. “We need to look at how the gig economy can be formalized,” he added, stressing that integrating digital and informal entrepreneurship into formal policy would expand opportunities for young people and boost tax revenues.
His comments echo concerns raised in the AU report that, without regulatory reforms, greater access to finance, and tighter policy alignment, Ghana risks losing competitiveness in regional value chains despite recent investments in SEZs and industrial parks.
