New Competition law to sanitise local market

Government is to promulgate a national Competition Law to promote, maintain and harmonise competition in markets, principally within the country’s territorial boundaries.

The policy framework is currently in its draft stage and is awaiting stakeholders’ input for onward submission to the United Nations for a final review to meet the international best module.

Appropriate competition policies and the establishment of competitive authority could help to ensure that markets work efficiently and effectively to deliver economic welfare and growth.

Competition law aims to promote or maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct. Modern Competition law has historically evolved on a country level to promote and maintain competition in markets principally within the territorial boundaries of nations.

“We are working very hard to ensure that it will be passed into law, as soon as possible,” Mr. Kofi Larbi, the Acting Chief Director of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, lead promoter of the regulatory framework, disclosed to B&FT in Accra after a presentation of a draft research report on measuring the economic impact of competition.

The Country’s draft Competition Bill has been considered by government since 1992, but it has not been enacted.

No legislation on anticompetitive practices exists, except for the National Communications Authority and the Banking Supervision Department of the Central Bank which have sector specific legislation to monitor the telecommunications and the banking markets.

A Competition Bill was drafted with the help of UNCTAD consultants in 1992/3 and sought to establish a commission that would ensure fair competition in trade practices as well as a trade practices court.

Mr. Rohit Singh, a research economist with the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), speaking on the theme ‘Measuring the Economic Impacts of Competition’, sought to understand and compare the domestic market dynamics in four sectors: sugar, cement, beer and mobile phones in five countries – Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, Vietnam and Bangladesh.

“Ghana needs to pass a competition law and establish an authority to monitor and research into complaints of industry players who feel cheated by acts of their peers. Absence of legislation on anti-competitive practices does not augur well for the country,” he said.

“Apart from undermining corruption, competition facilitates international competitiveness, private sector development and employment-creation, and makes an important contribution to the wider economic growth of developing countries,” he added.

Mr. Singh observed that the mobile phone market in Ghana appears to be well regulated and fairly competitive, and as a result is performing relatively well with high penetration rates compared to Kenya and Zambia.

“A well-performing and competitive mobile sector with low prices and wide coverage can have significant knock-on benefits for the economy as a whole,” he remarked.