Bokpin cautions Ghana against abandoning existing partnerships over BRICS membership

Professor of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School and Economist, Professor Godfred Bokpin, has cautioned the government against pursuing Ghana’s proposed membership of BRICS as a strategy to abandon its existing international partnerships or align itself exclusively with a particular political bloc. He said Ghana should approach its BRICS application as part of a broader foreign and economic policy strategy that allows the country to engage with different global economic powers while protecting its interests. Speaking on the Joy FM Super Morning Show on Thursday, October 8, during a discussion on Ghana’s quest to join BRICS, Prof Bokpin said the country needed to be clear about what it wanted to achieve from membership.

“Joining BRICS necessarily should not be pursued as a substitution strategy for exiting other blocs or within other political leanings that we have,” he said. He said Ghana should recognise that although BRICS has become an important force in the global economy, the country still has other strategic partners whose interests must be considered. “We need to situate all of this within the broader foreign policy and economic policy that allows us to recognise that yes, BRICS is a dominant force, but there are other players also, and remember that there will also be a pushback from our traditional partners as well.

They are equally watching,” he said. Prof Bokpin said the government should have a clear strategy covering the country’s objectives, limitations and the period within which it expected to achieve its goals from BRICS membership. “We need to be quite clear on what we allow, what we will not allow, what is the strategy within what transition period and all of that that we are working at and all of that,” he said.

“So we need to engage with our eyes open. We need to make this application to join BRICS with our eyes open.” He cautioned that BRICS membership should not be viewed as a quick solution to Ghana’s economic challenges. “Remember that BRICS wasn’t just designed to transform our economy.

The motives are quite clear, just like any other economic bloc that you want to join. Prof Bokpin drew comparisons with Ghana’s participation in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), saying membership of a regional or international economic bloc did not automatically translate into economic ben… He said that while joining BRICS could provide Ghana with new economic opportunities and strengthen its engagement with emerging global economies, membership alone would not automatically improve the country’s economic fortunes.

And so there are quite a lot of nuances that would have to be ironed out of that,” he said. He said that Ghana should not expect BRICS membership to deliver an immediate economic transformation. “But it is good to also say that merely joining BRICS necessarily does not transform your economy overnight, or even over a 15-year period,” Prof Bokpin said.