The Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen has stated that the introduction of the textile tax stamps policy will boost local production.
According to him, the stamps will certify the legitimacy of textiles produced, imported and retailed in the country, thereby addressing revenue mobilisation challenges and profitability of the sector.
Speaking at the launch of the Textile Tax Stamp in Accra, Alan Kyerematen noted that the policy will also go a long way to address the persistent problem of pirated textiles which is crippling the sector.
“They are not intended to add to the prices or the cost of textile prints in the market and they are also designed not to create difficulty for those who were engaged in the textile retail and wholesale trade. Because as we have explained, it is the introduction of these measures, particularly the textile that would ensure that we sanitise the retail trade in textile print.”
“So we are very confident and remember that we’ve been having stakeholder consultations on the introduction of these policy measures for over four to five years.”
“We started engaging with stakeholders from 2018, and gradually we’ve come to a point where we’ve officially now out-doored the policy. But in terms of implementation, we’ve given ourselves up to 1 March for enforcement or compliance with the policy measures.
Alan Kyerematen also said the initiative formed part of the Ministry’s policy initiatives to revamp and restructure the textiles industry.
“We are poised to revamp the textile industry via these new measures being rolled out to make the industry vibrant and more profitable as it was some years back,” he added.
The Minister said they had been engaging the stakeholders, especially the traders, on the initiative since 2018 and entreated them to comply with the tax stamps directive by ensuring that their products had the tax stamps on them.
Speaking at the same event, National President of the Textiles Traders Association, Madam Christiana Laryea, commended the Ministry for introducing the initiative and promised that the association would support them to revamp the sector.
She, however, appealed to them to continue to engage and sensitise the traders on the initiative for full compliance.
The Textile Tax Stamps Policy is initiative of the Ministry of Trade and Industry in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Intellectual Property Office and the Ghana Standards Authority which form part of the key implementing agencies.
The tax stamps policy is expected to commence on November 1, 2022.
