The Government of Ghana has announced that it will reduce benchmark import values at Ghana’s ports by 50% effective Thursday, 4th April 2019.
This move is to make the country’s ports attractive in the sub-region.
The Vice President, Mahamudu Bawumia who made this known at a town hall Meeting on Wednesday said the import value for cars will also be reduced by 30%.
“To reduce the incidence of smuggling and enhance revenue, the benchmark delivery values of import will be reduced by 50%. However for vehicles, the reduction will be 30
This decision follows calls from groups like Ghana Union of Traders Associations (GUTA) to review the high taxes and duties on imported items.
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High import regime in the country has been found to be making the country’s ports uncompetitive and said to have influenced smuggling.
He argued port revenues depended largely on the volumes, but observed the high cost of Ghana’s import regimes was not facilitating trade.
“We are looking at increasing revenue and to do so we cannot be uncompetitive between Ghana and our next door neighbours,” he noted.
Dr Bawumia explained the decision to reduce vehicle imports by just 30 per cent stems from the fact that currently vehicles “attract an amount of depreciation which if you factor in will take you to close to 50 per cent.
