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2023 Budget must scrap discounted benchmark values — AGI
Micheal Okyere Baafi - Deputy Trade and Industry Minister

2023 Budget must scrap discounted benchmark values — AGI

THE Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), is hopeful that the government will use the 2023 budget that is currently at the preparation stage to totally scrap the discount on imported goods in the country.

The umbrella body of manufacturers explained that the reduction in the benchmark values was pushing its members out of business and that needed to be reviewed to make domestic manufacturers more competitive.

The government, in March this year, partially reviewed the reductions in benchmark values from 50 per cent to 30 per cent for general goods and 30 per cent to 10 per cent for vehicles under the first phase.

The awards scheme

Speaking to the media at the launch of 11th edition of the AGI Quality Awards in Accra on June 3, the Chief Executive Officer of the AGI, Seth Twum-Akwaboah, said the second phase of the review process should totally abolish the discount policy.

On the theme, “Leveraging Public Private Collaboration to Accelerate Business Recovery,” the award sought to promote and maintain high business standards among Ghana’s business industries.

Organised in partnership with the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), the award scheme is due to come off in November 2022.

Special discount

Mr Twum-Akwaboah stated that AGI wanted a special discount on imports of raw materials meant for manufacturing.

He said a special discount would help build a solid manufacturing sector to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

He explained that imposing a special discount on raw materials would also safeguard manufacturing jobs and protect the fortunes of the sector from further deteriorating after reduction in benchmark values, cheapened imports and dampened demand for local substitutes.

He said the manufacturing sector needed special attention to grow and support the government’s development agenda.

“The special discount on raw materials is an issue our members have serious concern about because we are becoming less competitive and in these difficult times, especially with the AfCFTA in place.

“We will be opening our doors for goods to come in from everywhere in Africa quota free and duty free into our market. We will have a big challenge as a country if we do not develop our manufacturing sector,” he said.

He said allowing producers to pay duty on imported raw materials and then also taxing the final product constituted an unwarranted double tax burden on them.

He said these taxes ended up being passed on to the final consumer and were part of the reason domestically-made goods were uncompetitive relative to imported ones.

Stable macroeconomic environment

For her part, the Chairperson of the AGI Awards Planning Committee, Nora Bannerman-Abbot, said the government needed to restore a stable macroeconomic environment for businesses to thrive.

“We, however, wish to commend the government for its efforts towards the establishment of the Development Bank Ghana (DBG) because it is the bank of this nature that can provide the medium to long term loan to industries.

“Nomination will be open in a few weeks and we will like to see a lot more entries from the regions outside Accra,” she added.

National Quality Policy

A Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Micheal Okyere Baafi, said the government had designed a National Quality Policy (NQP) to help create a global brand that epitomises quality in domestic products and services.

He added that the government would continue to create an enabling environment for the private sector to boost the socio-economic fortunes of the citizenry.

 

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