Cement Price: Focus on competition law, not price regulation – CUTS Int’l to K. T Hammond

Appiah Kusi Adomako, the Director for Cuts International (West Africa), has criticised the Minister for Trade and Industry, Kobina Tahir Hammond’s firefighting approach in the ongoing discourse on price regulation within Ghana’s cement industry, stating that it will not solve the cement pricing challenge.

According to Mr. Kusi Adomako, the solution does not lie in price regulation but in fostering a competitive market through competition law.

In an interview with Bernard Alve on the Citi Breakfast Show, he argued that the focus should shift from legislative price controls to the establishment of a robust competition law.

“The minister is getting a lot of things wrong in this particular discussion. Cement, as we know, is imported into the country, and the dollar-to-cedi exchange rate is a key factor that drives the prices up.

“If we want to regulate prices, the minister should not only target cement but also other commodity prices that are also going up; rice, cooking oil, and other consumer goods are also going up.

“But I am not sure that the minister can go to Makola and tell the importers of those products what to do. So long as we are in a free and competitive market, the economic aspects are the ones that will determine the prices of these goods.

“The best approach that Ghana can use in the cement industry is not a price regulation but rather a competition law.”