Korea Importers Association Raises Fume Over The Reversal Of Benchmark Value

Story Reported by Gideon Kotey 

The Korea importers of Ghana as well as the trading community in Ghana are going through very very rough times of late and if no urgent steps are taken to address these issues it may lead to the collapse of many jobs and its attendant loss of thousands of Jobs in the informal sector.

If indeed the informal sector is the engine of growth as always postulated by government officials, then they plead with the government for urgent action on the unfortunate recent fast-depreciation of our currency makes it very difficult and sometimes impossible for us to clear goods from the ports since duties are pegged to the US dollar.

Speaking at a news conference held in Accra, the General Secretary of Korea Importers Association of Ghana, Mr. Dumenu Goerge plead that they can be guaranteed at least a quarterly rate of say $1=Ghc 10 to ease planning.

Since most of them depend on bank loans they plead with the Ministry of Trade to negotiate with the Exim Bank for a better rate.

According to him, the current Customs Amendment Act also has created a further challenge for us and the country as a whole.

The Korea importers in particular bring to Ghana Rhino, Mighty, Hyundai, Bongo, Daewoo the VIP cars among others which are heavy duty trucks used to go to the rural areas to bring food stuffs etching.

He observed that these types of cars are not currently being assembled in Ghana so if age limitations are placed on them and banned, it will greatly affect domestic trade.

Therefore plead that the policy in respect of these heavy duty cars is suspended until such a time that these cars are assembled in Ghana.

Mr.Dumenu said the new policy of GRA which mandates importers to clear their goods within seven days after being discharged, they want to make this suggestion; From their years of experience, one main source of delay in the clearance of goods, is the role of clearing agents who sometimes have too many jobs on their hands and therefore are not able to meet the deadlines leading to demurrage.

"In order to solve this problem.The importers should be given a code and made to pay their duties directly to the banks and take their pay-in slip which are authenticated by the banks to facilitate their clearing of goods on a timely basis" he lamented.

According to him, the reversal of the benchmark value has become a double edged sword such that if care is not taken it will do more harm than good.

This is because some importers may use ports in their neighbouring countries and try to dodge the duty and the government will lose a lot revenue.

Another challenge they are facing which is suffocating their businesses is the GPHA, GSA, GSA are also some agencies who also have multiplicity of rules and regulations which must be complies with including their charges.

The association plead that all these agencies should have a unified code all boxed into one with a single charge to avoid duplication of functions and the waste of time at the ports because money can be made or lost around the clock.

Source: www.truthtvgh.com

Editor: Nii Amon

@www.truthtvgh.com

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