Ghana’s local economy is under threat from cartel-like behavior within parts of the private sector. This is according to the West Africa Regional Director of CUTS International, Appiah Kusi Adomako.
He warns that some private sector players and trade associations are working in ways that sabotage growth, distort pricing, and undermine economic competitiveness.
Speaking at the 2025 Citi Business Festival Forum under the theme “Global Tariff Dispute: Navigating Ghana’s Recovery Strategy,” Appiah Adomako voiced concerns over the unchecked power of private actors who, he says, are hurting consumers and damaging the country’s economic foundation.
“Some of the private sectors we fight for behave like cartels saboteuring the growth of the local economy,” he stated.
He argued that these actions not only inflate the cost of doing business but also threaten overall economic stability.
Mr. Adomako pointed to weak institutional arrangements as a key factor exacerbating the problem, particularly in Ghana’s largely informal market structure.
“Institutional arrangements around customer service must be tidied up to strengthen the entirety of our Ghanaian market which is largely informal,” he urged.
On pricing practices, he bemoaned the absence of logic or economic grounding in how many businesses set their prices.
“People price their goods without using any scientific approach, and speculative pricing has also taken over,” he said.
He stressed that while price stickiness is a known economic phenomenon, allowing trade associations to dictate prices with little oversight creates fertile ground for anti-competitive behavior.
“In economics, we say prices are sticky downwards, but how do we allow private sectors and trade associations to dictate prices for their goods? So we need to ensure that chambers that we have in this country do not become cartels.”
He further cautioned that many business chambers, in their current form, are no longer serving the broader market interest.
“Almost all the chambers are trying to protect their interests and gang up against the consumer, contributing to the higher cost of doing business,” Mr. Adomako warned.
He concluded with a call for stronger regulation and transparency, stressing, “If you want to be competitive, you need to ensure that prices are independent.”
