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Financial analyst and social commentator, Sydney Casely Hayford, has rebuked the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr. Ekow Spio-Garbrah for banning exportation of raw cashew nuts in the country.

According to him, the directive was a “poor decision,” which will not in any way inure to the benefit of the country. Dr. Spio-Garbrah days after issuing the directive banning exportation of cashew nuts suspended it last Friday.

He explained that the directive was in the best interest of the country and was geared towards empowering local processing companies as well as creating more jobs. However, Members of Parliament criticized him for not holding wider consultations on the matter and ordered the Minister to withdraw it.

Speaking on Citi FM’s news analysis programme The Big Issue on Saturday, Casely Hayford argued that the Trade Minister did not understand the dynamics of the sector hence his decision.

“In doing what he did, as far as the decision to ban the exportation of cashew I think he got the business case completely upside down. I think the Minister of Trade and Industry completely did not understand the dynamics of the business.

He is talking about lots of stakeholder meetings and discussions but he still didn’t understand the dynamics of what he was dealing with. He made a poor decision, a bad judgment call,” Mr. Hayford added. He also noted that the issue has to do mainly with supply of the product.

“…If he now takes the opportunity to sit down and reflect, he will appreciate that the problem that we need to solve is an increase in the supply of the cashew and not anything else,” he added.