Prices to shoot up; GRA cancels all free tax on importation of rice, oil, tomato paste and cement

• The GRA has reversed the 50 percent benchmark values on 32 categories of items
• These include rice, tomato paste, cooking oil, other building materials among others
• The reversal takes effect from Monday, November 15

From Monday, November 15, a 50 percent reduction in benchmarks will be made for 32 categories of items in the ports.

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in a letter to the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta, signed by the Commissioner-General, Rev. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, stated that the move was based on an agreement reached with the business community.

All items under 32 categories currently enjoying port removal discounts will no longer enjoy that special time. These include, sugar, noodles, palm oil, roofing sheets, toilet paper, facial tissue and towel, chocolates, Portland cement, clinker and mosquito coil.

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Other items include cars, ceramic tiles, aluminum products, boxes, fabrics, fruit juice, among others.

The President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association, Dr. Joseph Obeng, previously stressed that any government intention to spend 50% of Benchmark Value in ports "would be suicide".

In a press statement, Dr. Obeng expressed that the Benchmark Value brought relief to the trading community, a rational mind in the system, and mitigated the tensions and tensions during the coronavirus's impact on cross-border trading.

"Any attempt to eradicate this positive government policy that has brought relief will be a suicide to the government because it will not only end the collapse of the business but also create an unbearable rise in prices for goods and services that are inaccessible to consumers, especially low-income consumers. and the unemployed, ”he warned.

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The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has held that a 50% reduction in the Price Rate has reduced imports and reduced local demand, which has led to a slowdown in the growth of manufacturing companies.

In a petition strongly rejected by the trade union federation, the producers' union said the price-cutting policy should be reviewed in order to protect productive activities and protect the sector's assets from further deterioration.

AGI Chief Executive Officer, Seth Twum-Akwaboah, told Charles Ayitey at Market Place that domestic processors of rice and edible oil were the worst hit, with big names like Avnash Industries Ghana Limited and Wilmar Africa Limited jobs declining. and retrenchment, following the introduction of the policy two years ago.

He said following a decline in demand for their products, local producers were forced to reduce their demand for inputs by local farmers "and that has an impact on the supply chain."

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“What the policy really does is make it easier to buy goods and more profitable, and we say it does not encourage local production.

Also, we think it undermines the government's industrialization policy which is to promote domestic production through the One-District, One-Factory (1D1F) program. "

Source: YEN.com.gh