Renowned economist, Professor John Gatsi, has described Ghana’s decision to apply for BRICS membership as a progressive move with the potential to significantly improve the country’s economy.
Reacting to Cabinet’s approval for Ghana to formally apply to join the BRICS bloc, Prof. Gatsi noted that BRICS now accounts for 41% of global GDP, making it a critical economic bloc for Ghana to align with.
Professor Gatsi in Facebook post outlined three major economic benefits Ghana stands to gain from joining:
Access to Alternative Development Financing:
Opportunities to gain access to alternative development financing to enhance trade, de-dollarise and scale up strategic infrastructure.
Technical Cooperation and Industrial Collaboration:
Deeper technical cooperation and industrial collaboration that protects economic sovereignty, unlike traditional financing models and;
Technology Transfer Mechanisms:
Established mechanisms for sharing technologies among member states to drive industrialization.
According to Prof. Gatsi, all these have the potential to improve infrastructure finance, ensure greater diversification of trade and market access.
He further pointed to the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) of more than $100 billion to manage liquidity among members as a key safety net Ghana could leverage, especially during external shocks.
“This is not retrogressive but will record marked improvement,” Prof. Gatsi emphasized.
Analysts say Ghana’s BRICS push, if successful, could reduce over-reliance on the dollar, open up new markets for Ghanaian exports in Brazil, India, China and Russia, and provide cheaper, long-term financing for roads, energy, and industrial parks under the New Development Bank (NDB), the financial arm of BRICS.
The Mahama administration says the application is about options, not replacing existing partners like the IMF and World Bank.
