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Company News of Thursday, April 4, 2019
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2019-04-04
President of GUTA, Dr. Joseph Obeng
The Ghanaian Traders Association (GUTA) dismissed concerns that the recently announced reduction in the import duty baseline is insignificant.
The President of the GUTA, Mr. Joseph Obeng, said that the import rights reform introduced on Wednesday by the government was in line with the demands made by the customs authorities on many occasions during the negotiations.
"This measure of government mitigation might be considered negligible by someone, but it is very essential," said Dr. Obeng at PM Express, a news program broadcast on the Joy channel. News from MultiTV.
The new import tariff reform will begin on Thursday, April 4.
Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, who disclosed this information at the plenary session of Wednesday's Economic Management Team (EMT), said the benchmark value of import duties would be reduced by half, while vehicle importers would benefit by 30%.
The Ghana Association of Industries (AGI) warned importers against any excitement about the new reforms, as the reduction of reference fees does not mean a reduction in tariffs.
Seth Twum Akwaboah, General Manager of the AGI, told Joy News on Wednesday that the benchmarks did not add much because they became inapplicable if the importers declared the good values.
He admits, however, that a total reduction in the billing value of import rates would have catastrophic effects on Ghanaian industries, which would have opened the door to imports.
The increase in imports was attributed to the depreciation of the local currency.
Minority concerns
Cbadiel Ato Forson, spokesperson for the National Democratic Congress (NEC) for Finance, also told PM Express Wednesday night that the reform would not give the necessary relief demanded by GUTA and other importers.
"No. Unfortunately, the World Trade Organization and our laws – the Customs Act – oppose the reference value.It is something that is banned by the World Trade Organization, the World Customs Organization and the laws of Ghana.
"According to the laws of this country, the Customs Law, Customs can only apply import duties, as approved by Parliament on billing values. Reference values are used only for risk management purposes and can not be used for import rights purposes, "said the former Deputy Minister of Finance.
GUTA defends
According to Dr. Obeng, the reference values were used for many years – even under the administration of NDC, under which Mr. Forson served – so he could claim that it violated the law and the protocols internationals were hypocrites.
"If your goods were transported before, if you were supposed to pay $ 20,000 but after applying the benchmark, you will pay $ 80,000, then you will see how important that is," he said. -he declares.
How the reduction of the reference value works
Mr. Ato Forson explained that the reference value is a defined value that Customs badigns to a specific product and that it will use for the calculation of import duties when the invoice value of the product is deemed too high. low.
"For example, if you bring a power cable and the value of the bill is [GHS]4 and the customs reference value – which is the published customs value – is [GHS]6. you [importer] stay in [GHS]4 and they say [GHS]6. There is therefore a difference of [GHS]2
"What the Vice President says is that [GHS]2 will be reduced by 50% [and 30% if it is a vehicle]. If they must reduce the totality [GHS]6 of 50% so that means they reduce it below the value of your bill which is [GHS]3, instead of [GHS]4, he says.
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