The first shipment of Ghanaian remittances to the UK to face post-Brexit tariffs landed in Portsmouth last night, including 185 metric tons of bananas, most of which were called Fairtrade.
As Britain and the European Union reached a trade agreement so close to the divorce transition deadline on December 31, some other “continuity” agreements – those that intend to reverse the terms of trade that the UK enjoyed as a member EU – still hang on the scale. Agreements with Albania, Algeria and Serbia are also pending.
While they wait, their exports face Britain’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences, which applies reduced-rate import tariffs to developing countries.
Last night’s fare was over £ 17,500 ($ 24,000), a small sum for Golden Exotics, the banana producer in Accra behind the shipment. The company is the only source of work within a 30-mile radius for the 3,000 people it employs.
The UK Department of International Trade pointed only to its New Year’s Eve declaration that the two sides had “reached consensus on the main elements” of an agreement and that the text would be finalized in weeks.
However, George Kporye, managing director of Golden Exotics, added that the fees should be waived in the meantime and the deal completed in days instead of weeks. “We had to reduce volumes due to the uncertainties of reaching an agreement on time,” he said.
Official data show that Britain’s exports to Ghana were worth £ 722 million in 2019, with imports – mainly oil, fish, cocoa and fruit – totaling £ 498 million.
Ian Mitchell, senior policy researcher at the Center for Global Development, said that while London has managed to reverse most of its trade agreements, ministers “underestimated the complexities in Ghana”.
Gareth Thomas, a member of the UK parliament and parallel minister of international trade, said saving jobs at low-margin companies like Kporye’s that exporting to Britain should be a priority, adding, “It’s unbelievable that they left. to strike a deal with a key Community ally so late. “
–Lizzy Burden In London
Mapped territory
Spain and the United Kingdom reached a last-minute agreement on Gibraltar that facilitates access to the territory and removes the threat of further border restrictions. Responsibility to supervise the new Schengen terms without a passport to enter Gibraltar port and airport, as provided for in the agreement, would be from Spain, according to Spanish Chancellor Arancha Gonzalez Laya.
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