Accra: A trade data expert has proposed policy measures to address revenue losses and operational inefficiencies at Ghana's ports.
According to Ghana Web, in a policy brief shared with the Ghana News Agency, David O.G. Abbots, a trade data expert and supply-chain systems specialist, examined weaknesses in the country's trade and port data governance framework, which need to be halted. He highlighted that Ghana's current trade management system relied largely on post-arrival declarations, fragmented agency data, and foreign mirror statistics to track imports and exports, practices he described as outdated and inconsistent with modern trade facilitation standards.
Abbots noted that these weaknesses in trade data management had contributed to revenue leakages through under-invoicing, misclassification of goods, and undocumented cargo movements, thus depriving the state of significant customs revenue and undermining fiscal planning. He pointed out that Ghana continued to depend on external trade data sources, including partner-reported statistics and paid international market databases, to inform macro-economic and fiscal decisions, despite the limitations of such retrospective and foreign-generated data.
He emphasized that no modern trading nation should rely on foreign sources for generating its trade intelligence. The absence of a unified national trade data system, Abbots argued, constrained revenue protection, security screening, and access to international development finance. As a solution, he proposed the adoption of a Smart Port Note (SPN) system, which would capture advance cargo information at the point of origin before shipment, creating a single national trade data layer accessible to all relevant state agencies.
The proposed system would enable pre-arrival risk assessment, improve customs efficiency, strengthen revenue protection, and help Ghana meet donor data requirements linked to Aid-for-Trade, climate finance, women's economic empowerment, and child supply-chain programs. Abbots stated that this measure aligns with the World Trade Organisation Trade Facilitation Agreement and the World Customs Organisation SAFE Framework, and would position Ghana in line with international best practices in port and trade data management.
Abbots concluded by asserting that implementing this system is not optional but rather an investment in economic sovereignty, national security, and Ghana's ability to attract concessional finance.