State tax collector, Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), has pulled the brakes indefinitely on its decision to reverse the implementation of the benchmark value system at the country’s seaports.
The new twist to the melee surrounding the reversal since it was last announced earlier this month is to allow for extensive stakeholder deliberations in the interest of all parties whose activities or trade would be affected by the policy reversal or otherwise.
“Following the outcome of a meeting held on Wednesday, the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority has been directed to suspend the implementation of the government’s policy directive on the removal of reductions of values of imports on selected items until further notice to enable further engagements will all relevant stakeholders,” said the GRA in its statement.
In April 2019, government announced a drastic reduction in the benchmark values that are used to calculate duties all imports.
The values of all imported was reduced by 50percent whilst that of vehicles was downed by 30percent, in an incentivizing gesture to boost the competitiveness of Ghana’s ports through reduced smuggling and enhanced revenue.
However, its implementation has become the bone of contention between the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and the Ghana Union of Trader Associations (GUTA)—the two key beneficiaries of the policy.
The former argued that it wasn’t feasible to have the policy, which sought to cushion industrialists—who import raw materials for local production—to be extended to general importers who flood the domestic market with finished and cheaply priced goods to sell on the local market.
AGI’s stance has been backed by a trade expert and Country Director of CUTS International Accra, Appiah Kusi-Adomako, who has argued the need for government to protect local industries.
“If you pin importation against domestic production, I will choose domestic production. This is the way that would build the country. No country has ever developed with unlimited access to imported goods at lower tariffs. When you do that, you kill your industries and there would be no appetite for people to invest in the manufacturing sector,” he said on GPHA’s Eye on Port programme.
Meanwhile, heading into the extensive deliberations, GUTA has assured that it will engage in objective discussions without taking any entrenched position.
“We won’t take any entrenched position at the meeting. We would have to be objective and patriotic,” president of the association Dr. Joseph Obeng said on the same programme.
