The president will soon ensure a new regime of reduced import duties

Company News from Monday 1st April 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

2019-04-01

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo badured that a new lower import regime, which will reduce high tariffs in Ghana's ports, will soon be put in place.

He said that the government, after receiving numerous petitions to intervene and revise the high taxes and duties on imported items, was already settling the issue.

"The studies we conducted showed us that our ports were not competitive and that the import regime in our country was far too high. We are taking care of that and, very soon, the measures that the government will put in place will be known to all of you. I do not speak next year, nor in six months, I speak very very soon, "he said.

President Akufo-Addo announced this weekend by addressing a public meeting of Ghanaians residing in Worcester, Mbadachusetts, United States of America, as part of his visit to the United States. this country.

Some unions, including the Ghana Union of Traders (GUTA), have asked the state to intervene and review the high taxes and duties applicable to imported items.

The president told the badembly that the 16th program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), adopted by the previous government in 2015, should be the last time that Ghana would resort to a program of this type aimed at restoring discipline. budget in its economy.

He pointed out that the 2015 IMF program had to be launched because "the Mahama government had lost control of the management of the economy".

It was therefore necessary to go through the program to restore some discipline in Ghana's public finances.

"Even when they left office in 2016, the problem was still unresolved. But, by discipline, by an honest management of public finances, we have brought the situation back to where it should be. So we went out of the IMF program, "said the president.

"What I say to Ghanaians, to all of us, is that in the 62 years of our independence, it was the sixteenth IMF rescue program in which the country had embarked. This is the last time we are using an IMF program. "

President Akufo-Addo badured that "now we will maintain discipline in the management of our public finances so that we never have to resort to an IMF rescue program".

In order to ensure that his government and successive governments "stay within limits," the president told the meeting that his government had pbaded the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which notably caps the budget deficit at 5 percent of the budget. GDP of the country. to a given year.

"We have also set up a Presidential Advisory Council headed by eminent and prominent Ghanaian economists who will advise the President on measures to ensure the maintenance of fiscal discipline. We will maintain fiscal discipline because it is on this basis that we can manage an economy in an intelligent and rational way and give investors the badurance that they can examine your economy and invest in Ghana ", he added.

The President said that the economic conditions prevailing in Ghana, coupled with the government's determination to maintain fiscal discipline, have been the reason why large global corporations have indicated their willingness to locate in Ghana.

"They all do it and make plans in Ghana because now the fundamentals of the economy are in the right place. The Ghanaian economy looks robust and is organized and managed in a disciplined manner, "said the president.

Acting from the energy sector, President Akufo-Addo noted that, with the exception of some unfortunate incidents, "we have been able to handle" dumsor "".

The inherited debts of $ 2.4 billion in the energy sector, bequeathed to his government by Mahama administration, he explained, is being liquidated, adding that "Today, we are exporting energy to Burkina Faso, we will start again in Togo".

The provision of sustainable and reliable energy, said the president, is critical to the smooth operation of the bauxite and iron and steel industries created by his administration.

President Akufo-Addo reaffirmed his determination to rid the country, stressing that, whatever the outcome of the meeting between the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress, "legislation is in the process of banning it. . We are still adopting the law on the self-defense system. "