We will make it uncomfortable for the government if it reverses benchmark value policy – Importers
If the government follows through on its promise to reverse the 50 per cent benchmark policy on 32 product categories, the Ghana Importers and Exporters Association says its members will raise the price of the commodities they import into the nation. The reversal of the policy that reduced the cost of imports, in general, is purportedly being done to raise revenue.
It will be noted that, in a bid to combat smuggling and make the country’s ports more competitive and appealing, the government decreased the benchmark value or delivery value of imports by 50% on April 4, 2019, with the exception of autos, which were dropped by 30%.
However, some stakeholders, such as the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), have recently asked for a reassessment of the 50% benchmark value reduction policy in order to coincide with the country’s industrialization efforts.
Imported goods, according to the AGI, tend to compete with domestically created items, which they claim undermines the government’s industrialization objective. The group demanded that the government help locals cope with the effects of the covid-19 outbreak.
The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has urged the government not to abandon the 50 per cent reduction in benchmark values policy, claiming that doing so would harm their businesses.
The Executive Secretary of the Ghana Importers and Exporters Association, Samson Asaki Awingobit, warns that ordinary citizens will bear the brunt of the government’s plans to reverse the reduction.
“I can tell you that we will do everything possible to get the government to reverse this move. This is not going to be a policy we will accept. We will soon be sharing our next line of action to get the government to reverse the move. If we do all those things and government persists we will let every importer increase their prices and we will make it uncomfortable for the government to the point where they will have no choice but to reverse it”, Samson Asaki Awingobit stated.
Source: Richard Mensah Adonu | Join our Telegram Group
