The Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana (IEAG) says the country’s inability to produce its own verified trade data is undermining effective planning, policy decisions and academic research.
According to the Executive Secretary of the Association, Samson Asaki Awingobit, Ghana currently lacks a credible institution that can provide refined and verifiable trade statistics for national use.
He described the situation as worrying, particularly for a country heavily involved in international trade.
“We do not have any credible, verifiable trade data in this country,” he told Metro TV’s Bright Amaning in an interview on Good Afternoon Ghana on Monday, January 19, 2026.
“If you ask where Ghana’s trade data is, we cannot point to one institution.”
He explained that even the Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry does not have access to consolidated trade figures it can rely on for planning and reporting.
“The ministry cannot give quantitative trade data. They cannot give verifiable trade data,” he stated.
Mr Awingobit noted that students and researchers frequently struggle to access local data for academic work, forcing them to rely on foreign sources.
“Students studying international trade, logistics and supply chain come looking for data, and we don’t know where to send them,” he said.
He added that Ghana often pays international institutions for trade data that originates from its own ports.
“Any time Ghana wants to make reference to trade data, we go to institutions like Bloomberg or the World Bank, and we pay for it,” he said. “We should not be paying for our own data.”
Mr Awingobit said this gap is one of the main reasons the Association supports the Smart Port Note policy, which he believes will help Ghana generate validated trade information at the point of export.
“This will become our data, so everybody can point to it and use it for planning, budgeting and grants,” he said.
He rejected claims that existing systems such as ICUMS already provide sufficient trade information, describing the data generated as incomplete.
“They have said it themselves that the data is raw data. It is not refined and it is not verifiable,” he explained.
Mr Awingobit also dismissed assertions that stakeholders had not been consulted before the introduction of the Smart Port Note.
“There have been several engagements. Last Friday there was a meeting, and as I speak to you now, we are in another meeting on the same issue,” he said.
He urged groups opposed to the policy to engage constructively rather than issue public statements that he believes misrepresent the facts.
“You don’t issue statements to create a picture as if there has been no engagement when meetings are ongoing,” he said.
Mr Awingobit maintained that improving access to reliable trade data is critical for Ghana’s economic planning and long-term development.
