The comments follow the Minister’s announcement that certain products will no longer be permitted to enter or transit Ghana via land borders and must now be routed exclusively through seaports.

The affected items include cooking oil, rice, sugar, frozen products, textiles, flour, canned tomatoes, pasta/spaghetti, and pharmaceutical products.

Minister Forson explained the rationale behind the directive:
“These goods must now be routed through our seaports to strengthen border controls, close revenue leakages, and safeguard government revenue. I have also directed the recentralization of the Customs Technical Services Bureau (CTSB) to establish a one-stop shop for valuation and improve intelligence sharing, including insights generated through the Publican AI system. All relevant departments within the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority must ensure strict compliance with these directives.”

Commenting on the ban, Mr. Awingobit said:
“This decision by Minister Forson will not only increase government revenue but also address public health concerns associated with some products entering the country through unregulated routes. We also suggest that the Minister consider banning the land transit of certain electrical appliances, as some traders exploit these routes to sell goods at very low prices, creating unfair competition for importers who follow proper procedures and pay the required taxes.”

He further noted that the land transit route has become one of the main avenues for smuggling, undermining legitimate businesses and reducing state revenue.

Meanwhile, Clement Boateng, President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), also welcomed the directive:
“This is a positive move that will help reduce financial losses to the country. Traders must comply fully with the Minister’s directive and refrain from activities that undermine revenue generation.”

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The Association warns that if the issue of illegal mining, locally known as galamsey, is not urgently tackled, Ghana could face significant hurdles in exporting its agricultural products, especially to markets in Europe.

This warning comes in light of reports showing that staple Ghanaian exports, including cocoa, yams, and vegetables, have been found to contain harmful heavy metals.

These metals, such as mercury, are often introduced into soil and water through toxic chemicals used in illegal mining.

As these contaminants seep into water bodies and farmland, they affect crops grown in those areas, making them unsafe for consumption in regions with strict food safety standards, such as the European Union.

Speaking to Citi News, President of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, Samson Asaaki Awingobit, stressed the seriousness of the situation.

He highlighted that the EU enforces stringent food safety regulations, and any sign of contamination could result in a ban on Ghanaian agricultural exports.

Such a ban, he warned, would have severe economic repercussions for Ghana, as the EU is one of the nation’s largest trading partners.

Source: Adomonline

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Speaking at a seminar on Customs Post Clearance Audit, Deputy Ashanti Regional Commander for Customs, Evans Teye Agbozo, explained that the Post Clearance Audit is mandated by law, and only importers and exporters who try to circumvent duty payment will be held liable and required to pay any differences found after the audit.

“If you clear your goods six years later, we can still come to you and visit you. So basically, the only challenge to post-clearance audit towards traders is just to be compliant,” he emphasised.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority, Benonita Bismarck, stated that the authority’s aim is to ensure that importers and exporters are well-informed to avoid actions that may lead to future difficulties.

“It is instructive to note that in the execution of our mandate, the Ghana Shippers Authority regularly interacts with shippers to get real-time information on bottlenecks they face in the conduct of their business and take steps to resolve these bottlenecks in other to make the shippers business smoother.”

The seminar was organised in response to recurrent complaints from importers and exporters regarding the financial inconveniences they face after undergoing the Post Clearance Audit conducted by the Ghana Revenue Authority.

The objective of the Post Clearance Audit is to verify the accuracy and correctness of the information provided by importers or exporters during the customs clearance process. It aims to identify any errors, omissions, or irregularities in customs declarations, such as incorrect valuation, misclassification of goods, inaccurate determination of origin, or discrepancies in quantities or weights.

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The Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana (IEAG) have vowed to resist the three new taxes approved by Parliament.

The Executive Secretary, Asaki Awingobit has said the association is disappointed in Parliament for passing the bills despite the numerous pleas from the business community.

Speaking on Adom FM Dwaso Nsem, Mr Awingobit stated the government has not been fair to businesses, considering the challenges the country is facing.

“We are disappointed and not in good mood. We are going to have a crunch meeting and by tomorrow we will communicate measures we will put in place to block these new taxes,” he said.

Parliament on Friday passed the Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2022, the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill, 2022, the Ghana Revenue Authority Bill 2022 and the Income Tax Amendment Bill 2022.

The financial bills seek to rake in about 4 billion Ghana Cedis annually as part of domestic revenue mobilisation.

The bills are also crucial to aid the government’s quest to facilitate the Board Approval for the $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) Programme staff-level agreement.

But to Mr Awingobit, there are other effective means through which the government could have increased revenue.

“They could have amended the property rate tax, real estate tax, luxurious tax but they didn’t because they know they will be affected. With what they have done, it means the business community will be forced to increase prices but we can’t also let consumers suffer.

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“We are the business community and speak one language. We will use the business language and we are not going to accept this to increase prices knowing very well the consumers don’t have the purchasing power. They should go back to IMF and tell them Ghanaians are opposing the new taxes,” he added.

Play the audio above:

The development, according to the Association, will also cause a surge in food inflation in the coming days.

Executive Secretary of the Association, Samson Asaki Awingobit made the disclosure on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen.

Mr Awingobit said the directive was not the best at the moment as Ghana currently does not have the capacity to enforce it.

“I can tell you that within the shortest possible time, we will see an uprise in prices of these commodities; rice, poultry, vegetable oils, toothpicks, pasta, fruit juice, bottled water, and ceramic tiles especially if the Bank of Ghana goes ahead to implement this policy to the latter,” he said.

The Central Bank on November 17, 2022, directed banks to withdraw foreign exchange support to customers for the importation of certain non-critical or essential goods.

This was in accordance with President Akufo-Addo’s announcement to cut down importation in an address to the citizenry on the Economy on Sunday, 30th October 2022,

But Mr Awingobit has predicted going forward, businesses with stock of these products may decide to hoard them, resulting in shortages.

“By January, we will begin to see some shortages because the Commercial Bank will not have the forex to satisfy the market.

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“So if Bank of Ghana will not come in to help them, what it means is that only a few people will be able to raise these monies to go and bring these things,” he added.

This was in a statement signed by the Executive Secretary, Samson Asaki Awingobit.

“With the imposition of the Covid-19 Health Recovery Levy which will see the standard VAT rate adjusted upwards to 19.25% from its previous rate of 18.125%, consumers must be made aware that such increment will be applied to goods imported or exported in and out of the country,” part of the statement read.

Effective Saturday, May 1, 2021, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) will implement the 1% COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy.

The new levy, according to the government, will help raise revenue to support COVID-19 expenditure and will also be an addition to existing sales taxes.

The statement added that the increment was also as a result of the Flat VAT rate changes from 3% to 4%, with the increment being the 1% COVID Levy,

“Based on these, the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, wants Ghanaians to expect a marginal increase in goods imported into the country by its members, which will be onwardly transferred to the buyer,” the statement added.

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The Association lauded a suggestion by a former Finance Minister, Seth Tekper, for the government to scrap the said 1% COVID-19 levy in the future when it manages to recoup monies expended during the pandemic.

The statement, however, noted: “We wished the said suggestion could have been implemented by the erstwhile Mahama administration of which Mr Tekper was the Finance minister when it introduced the Special Tax Recovery Levy.”