Senior Partner at AB & David Africa, David Ofosu-Dorte, has questioned the overall impact of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) on Africa’s economic transformation, despite the recent approval of its extension by the United States House of Representatives.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Thursday, January 15, 2026, and monitored by NR News, Mr Ofosu-Dorte said data from the past 25 years indicate that Africa has not benefited from AGOA to the extent initially envisaged when the trade arrangement was introduced.
His comments come in the wake of the US House of Representatives’ decision to extend AGOA, a move that preserves duty-free access for eligible exports from countries such as Ghana. The extension is expected to support sectors including garment manufacturing, agro-processing and employment creation, subject to final approval by the US Senate.
However, Mr Ofosu-Dorte noted that overall imports from Africa into the United States have declined significantly over the years, raising questions about the effectiveness of the programme.
“The total import to the US from Africa has dropped. It went up to about $24 billion. My last data was about $12 billion, with only AGOA-related imports in 2024 dropping to $8.8 billion from $9.3 billion the previous year,” he said.
He explained that although the agricultural and apparel sectors have traditionally been the biggest beneficiaries of AGOA, even these sectors have experienced declines in recent years.
“The biggest beneficiary was the agricultural sector and the apparel sector. Even for that, there has been some drop,” he noted.
Mr Ofosu-Dorte further observed that Africa’s share of total US imports remains marginal, arguing that the trade arrangement has fallen short of its broader transformative ambitions.
“Now the overall import share of Africa in US trade has dropped from about 1.2 per cent to 1.4 per cent. So, if I look at AGOA over these 25 years, it seems Africa hasn’t benefited the way it expected, and it has also not transformed Africa as it was intended to,” he said.
AGOA, enacted in 2000, was designed to promote economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa through preferential access to the US market. While its extension has been welcomed by policymakers and exporters in Ghana, analysts argue that its long-term impact will depend on stronger industrial capacity, increased value addition and greater export diversification across the continent.
