Customs House Agents want government to expand Ghana's export base

Yaw Kyei, the President of the Association of Customs House Agents Ghana (ACHAG), has called on the government to expand Ghana’s export base as a measure to increase revenue and sustain the economy.

Mr. Kyei, speaking to the Ghana News Agency ahead of the Mid-year Budget Review, said that countries that overly depend on importation do not expand economically.

He said even though their work involved clearing imported goods, ACHAG believed that enlarging the country’s export base would have a lot of economic benefit.

“We also expect the government to increase our export base; as freight forwarders, we are very proud that it would be increased. Any country that depends too much on imports than exports already may have a balance of deficit problems,” he noted.

He added that just as it pertained in China, Dubai, and the West, freight forwarders would still have much work to do, as they would work on processing the exportation of goods from Ghana to the rest of the world.

“In China, when you go there, a lot of freight forwarders export goods. It is our prayer that we can also position ourselves in the country to export a lot of goods to other countries, especially the African countries and the West.”

Mr. Kyei said with the exportations, the local industries would expand and boost the economy, adding that they expect that Ghana’s manufacturing base, which might have to depend on the importation of raw materials, would also be encouraged to use local products if they were available for their manufacturing.