Minister of Trade and Industry Alan Kyerematen insists government should actually be doing more than it currently is, when it comes to incentives and tax waivers for companies under the One District, One Factory program.
This follows the Minority in Parliament’s complaint that the lack of details on the tax waivers and incentives under the 1D1F program was a cause for concern.
But speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on the concerns raised, Mr. Kyerematen spoke of the need to put in place more measures to make the Ghanaian private sector more competitive on the continent.
“What we are doing in Ghana is probably the least we can do to support the private sector. So for me, I think that even if we had the opportunity, we should be doing more for our business people. Because they are the ones who are going to generate the foreign exchange, produce to reduce the level of imports, create jobs particularly in rural communities, and also stabilize our local currency.”
Mr. Kyerematen further denied that that the provision of incentives and tax waivers would negatively impact the fortunes of local companies.
“Over 95% of the companies that are currently accredited under this program are local companies. So once we have the significant majority of the participants in the 1D1F program being local companies, it means that all the incentives that you are talking about are in respect of local companies.”
Approval of Incentives and Tax waivers
Parliament approved an incentive package and tax waivers for the one district one factory policy earlier in May 2019 despite opposition from the Minority.
The package waives taxes on machinery and equipment for operators under the policy and includes a corporate tax exemption for five years.
Currently, 57 out of the 181 planned projects under the One District, One Factory, are operational.
About 95 percent are local companies while four percent are joint-venture companies.
