GH¢31 Billion Informal Cross-Border Trade Exposes Gap Between AfCFTA Promises and Border Realities

Ghana's informal cross-border trade reached an estimated GH¢31 billion in the first three quarters of 2025, surpassing formal land trade with neighbouring countries by more than half, yet small-scale traders—overwhelmingly women—continue to face harassment, undocumented levies, and a near-total absence of formal complaint mechanisms, stakeholders revealed at a dialogue in Aflao this week.

The figures, drawn from the Ghana Statistical Service's first extended survey of Informal Cross-Border Trade (ICBT), show that unrecorded trade was approximately 54 percent higher than the GH¢20.1 billion recorded through formal land channels over the same period, and accounted for about 6 percent of Ghana's total trade . The survey tracked flows across 206 active border points in 10 regions bordering Togo, Burkina Faso, and Côte d'Ivoire, deploying 676 field officers between January and September 2025 .

A System That Punishes the Traders It Depends On

At the stakeholder dialogue on safe and inclusive trade, organised by the Africa Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) with the Ghana National AfCFTA Champions, representatives of women traders from Elubo, Hamile, Paga, Aflao, and Akanu recounted experiences of arbitrary charges, confiscation of goods, prolonged transit delays, and inadequate infrastructure. They identified limited access to information on approved border procedures and the absence of structured feedback mechanisms as major obstacles to reporting violations .

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Customs Division acknowledged the gap. Its representative, Joseph Mills, disclosed that there are currently no formal channels specifically established to address harassment of traders at the borders, though complaints could be registered at the sector commander's office. The Customs Division says it is rolling out a Simplified Goods Declaration (SGD) system to allow traders to declare goods and pay duties through streamlined processes .

But stakeholders noted that existing AfCFTA and ECOWAS simplified trade arrangements are yet to provide specific protections for small-scale traders. Dode Seidu, National Coordinator of the AfCFTA National Coordination Office, acknowledged a "significant gap" between continental commitments and the everyday experiences of traders, calling for simplified, gender-responsive procedures, improved border infrastructure, accessible trade information, and stronger coordination among border agencies .

The Economic Stakes

The GSS data underscores what is at risk. Trade with Togo recorded the highest level of informality, with unrecorded transactions accounting for between 70.5 and 77.8 percent of total bilateral trade. For Côte d'Ivoire, informal trade exceeded three-fifths of total trade across all three quarters . By the third quarter of 2025, food products accounted for 49.4 percent of informal imports, with cooking oil the largest food import by value, livestock sourced mainly from Burkina Faso, and vegetables and oilseeds entering largely through Togo .

Women accounted for more than 60 percent of transporters of imported goods, while men accounted for about 70 percent of transporters of exports, according to the GSS report . Most goods moved by tricycles and motorbikes—a reflection of the small-scale, marginal nature of the trade that sustains border communities but remains largely invisible in formal economic planning.

A Joint Action Plan, But No Timeline

The Aflao dialogue produced a Joint Stakeholder Action Plan proposing the establishment of a border-level grievance-redress mechanism, an institutionalised platform for informal trader representation in national AfCFTA policy processes, and the digitalisation of border processes including digital travel itineraries and publication of approved fees. The Ghana Immigration Service and GRA Customs have been assigned responsibility for advancing these measures, while the Ministries of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, and Gender, Children and Social Protection are expected to support infrastructure improvements, gender-responsive training, and trader empowerment .

The Paramount Chief of Aflao, Torgbui Adzonugaga Amenya Fiti V, called for the development of Aflao into a modern logistics and commercial hub to create opportunities for women, young people, and businesses in border communities .

The Broader Context: AfCFTA's Unfulfilled Promise for Small Traders

The challenges documented at Aflao sit uneasily alongside the AfCFTA's Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade, which was designed precisely to address such barriers. The Protocol commits state parties to ensuring representation of women and youth in national AfCFTA implementation committees, targeted capacity-building, and a Simplified Trade Regime for consignments valued below US$5,000—with reduced documentation requirements and self-declaration of origin to lower compliance costs .

Yet the Protocol's commitments have not yet translated into tangible protections at Ghana's borders. The absence of formal complaint mechanisms, the persistence of undocumented levies, and the harassment traders describe suggest that the institutional infrastructure required to make the Protocol operational remains largely absent.

The dialogue was convened under the African Development Bank-funded CADAST programme, implemented with ESAMI-TRAPCA, to align Ghana's trade and border governance commitments with the realities confronting traders . Whether the Joint Action Plan produced at Aflao translates into enforceable change—or becomes another document in a growing archive of unmet commitments—will depend on the political will of the institutions tasked with implementing it.

For now, the women who move GH¢31 billion in goods across Ghana's borders each year continue to operate in a system that depends on their labour while offering them little in the way of protection.