The Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana has expressed its disappointment over what it described as government’s lack of engagement with stakeholders following the suspension of the 50% benchmark value reduction policy.
The government on the 13th of January directed the Ghana Revenue Authority to suspend the implementation of the reversal of the benchmark value discounts until further notice.
The benchmark value, which is the amount taxable on imports, was reduced by 50 percent for some goods. The import value for cars was also reduced by 30 percent.
The government’s hope was that easing the import regime would make Ghana’s ports competitive by increasing the volume of transactions and increasing revenue generated at the ports.
But as the government pushed its industrialisation drive, critics, like the Association of Ghana Industries, also called for a review of the benchmark value reduction policy, resulting in disagreements between local manufacturers on one side and importers on the other.
The Ghana Union of Traders Associations, GUTA, had earlier called on its members to oppose the reversal.
The union argued that importers had to contend with increases in exchange rates, the cost of freight, among others.
The government took the decision to reverse the policy in order to help grow local businesses, but it has since suspended the reversal of the policy for further stakeholder engagement.
However, the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana says it has taken notice of a statement purportedly made by the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen at the investiture of the new president of the Association of Ghana Industries on the 18th January 2022, where he reportedly said government will take a final decision on benchmark values by end of January. This, the association said, is without any stakeholder engagement following its indefinite suspension.
The Minister was quoted to have stated, among other things, that “I am happy to let you know that there are continued engagements, with stakeholders, ongoing. Please, do not give up. Let us persevere, and I am sure we will find ourselves with some good news before the end of the month (January) with regard to the Benchmark values.”
In an interview with Citi Business News, General Secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, Samson Asaki Awingobit further disagreed with the posture of Charles Adu Boahen accusing him of showing bias to members of the Association Of Ghana Industries regarding the benchmark policy even before any further negotiations.
“We at the IEAG deem this statement by the minister, Charles Adu-Boahen as unfortunate, deceptive, prejudicial and a show of gross bias towards our course in the matter of the benchmark values policy implementation”.
“The secretariat of the IEAG would want to put on record that since the announcement of the indefinite suspension of the implementation of the reversed 50% benchmark values policy by government, no stakeholder engagement has taken place between the IEAG and government”.
