The Private Enterprise Federation (PEF) has called on government, the Ghana Revenue Authority and other stakeholders in trade and industry to speed up discussions to identify which products would be allowed into the country from other African countries when the African Free Trade Agreement(AFTA) is fully implemented later this year.
The IMF has warned domestic revenue could be affected as a result of the agreement as products from other countries will flood the Ghanaian Market.
Speaking to Citi Business News ahead of the implementation of the agreement before the end of the year, President of the PEF, Nana Osei Bonsu said the discussions must be fast-tracked.
“It borders on government revenue, the elimination of tariffs is going to affect government revenue. And if the revenue is not there, the government is going to look at the domestic private sector. We need to identify the items with a 90 percent liberalization with a low impact on government’s revenue. This will reduce the burden of increasing taxes,” Nana Osei Bonsu said.
Meanwhile, the Trade Ministry said it has begun some engagements with the Ghana Union of Traders Association and the Association of Ghana Industries to discuss measures that will mitigate the effect of the implementation of the agreement on local manufacturing companies.
