A National Automotive Policy to guide and regulate Ghana’s new automotive industry will be launch in March, President Akufo-Addo has said.

This comes as some automobile companies announced plans to soon set up their assembling plants in the country.

Speaking during the State of the Nation Address on Thursday, President Akufo-Addo said the new policy would not be applicable to just foreign car manufacturers but to local manufacturers as well.

He said “We will outdoor in March, the National Automotive Policy spelling out the terms and conditions and incentive packages for participating in Ghana’s new automotive Industry. Which will also apply to local automobile companies”.

Global auto deals

Global auto industry mergers more than doubled to an all-time high of $97.5 billion in 2018 from a year earlier, driven by mega-deals in the automotive parts sector, according to a report by consultancy PwC.

Five mega-deals, worth a combined $42 billion, in the component suppliers segment, accounted for 43 per cent of the total value of M&As last year as companies invested to keep up with a shift by carmakers into autonomous driving, connected cars and electric vehicles, the report said.

Cross-border M&A activity slowed in 2018 due to increased trade tensions and less focus on geographic expansion, PwC said.

The number of deals worth more than $1 billion, at 20, was the highest ever recorded by PwC, and more than twice the average seen over the previous three years.