Ghana loses vessels traffic to Togo over high port charges – GNCCI

The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) has revealed that the country is losing out on huge revenue generation margins as some shipping vessels are now diverting their traffic to the neighbouring port of Togo.

The chamber asserts this is due to the exorbitant charges importers had to contend with when doing business at the country's ports.

Importers shoulder some 22 different taxes and levies, including COVID-19, GetFund, and National Insurance Health levies, amongst others.

According to the chamber, the situation is being exacerbated by the continuous depreciation of the Ghana cedi since some of these charges are paid in the U.S. dollar or its cedi equivalent, coupled with high interest rates from financial institutions.

In a meeting with Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the GNCCI appealed for a reduction in the various charges to ease the burden on the business community.

"We want you to revise the port charges and levies to reduce the cost of doing business; examples are the GetFund levy, the National Health Insurance levy, COVID-19, and special import levies.

"I was tasked to go to Burkina Faso to understudy the cost of doing business there and other ports in the subregion as Ghana Port is going down. Surprisingly, the port of Togo is leading with vessels moving from Ghana there," Dr Osei Amoako revealed.

Furthermore, the chamber also lobbied the vice president to help reduce electricity tariffs in the industrial sector to help reduce operational costs for industries.

The vice president, on the other hand, promised to match the charges at the Ghanaian ports with those of Togo when he becomes president in 2025.