The Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana has discredited claims made by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) about indigenous businesses relocating to Ivory Coast.
According to the association, assertions made by the Centre on the relocation of businesses to Ivory Coast are inaccurate.
CEO of GIPC, Mawuena Trebarh in an exclusive interview with Citi Business News early this week, dismissed reports that some indigenous businesses were relocating to Ivory Coast.
According to the centre available data available to it did not show such movements.
“…So it is the statistics from our monitoring and evaluation team including what the business communities send to us again by law. Every quarter they are required to report to us on how they are progressing with their investments. None of our statistics show that any of the companies’ that we registered have relocated or has left the country”, Mrs Trebarh said.
Speaking to Citi Business News however, the Executive Secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association, Sampson Asaaki Awingobit said the centre’s assertions are untrue.
“I think such statements are unwarranted and nobody should entertain them. If you go to the investors today ask them that this is what the GIPC boss is saying, you will see the answers that will come through. Whatever the GIPC boss said about the relocation, she did not retrieve from an accurate data. That I am sure of,” he stated.
Reports from various business associations and industry had indicated that the favourable business climate including relatively lower taxes in neighbouring Ivory Coast, have compelled most businesses to move there with the anticipation that they will thrive there than in Ghana.
Meanwhile Mr. Awingobit has implored on the GIPC to collaborate with the government to find a solution to the situation.
“I expect that the CEO who knows very well should be able to join hands to inform government that they should be able to reduce some of the taxes. If nothing at all, we deserve a reduction from all these tax issues,” he observed.
“They should do something and be able to salvage the situation. It is not a good thing to talk but some of us we have made up our mind to tell government the hard truth so they learn to do the right thing. “We are saying that because there are so much taxes,” the Executive Secretary of the Importers and Exporters noted.
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By: Jessica Ayorkor Aryee/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana