Govt to address influx of foreigners into retail Trade

Accra, Aug. 20, GNA - The government and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre are collaborating to address the influx of foreigners into the retail trade sector, Deputy Minister of Trade, Mr Kwadwo Afram-Asiedu, stated on Saturday.

Speaking at a dinner organised by the Accra Central Shop Owners Association, Mr Afram-Asiedu said the move had become necessary to protect the rights of citizens and to ensure sanctity in the country's domestic trade.

Traders at a recent forum attended by the Minister of Finance, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, asked the government to urgently consider either removing foreigners from retail trade in line with the country's Investment Code or to increase the threshold of the amount required for the entry by foreign investors into the sector.

The traders contended that the move had become necessary to check the alarming rate foreigners were invading the retail sector of the economy to the detriment of local businesses.

They pointed out that the current threshold of 300,000 dollars set about two decades ago was irrelevant to the needs of the country now and had to be pushed to five million dollars with proven evidence of cash. Mr Afram-Asiedu said the issues were being looked into to enable the Ministry of Trade to achieve its aim of ensuring an efficient functioning domestic market for the development of the country. He gave the assurance that the complaints of harassment by Customs officials were being dealt with by a team to ensure the speedy and efficient clearance of goods at the ports of entry.

Issues bothering on excessive taxation, infrastructure provision and modernisation of markets were being handled under the Trade Sector Support Programme by the Trade and Distribution Section, set up to enhance development and distribution of products for both local consumption and exports, the Deputy Minister said.

There are plans to establish a mechanism to solve the problems of multiple taxation for some commodities associated with cross border trade, he added.

Mr Afram-Asiedu said to further its objective to provide facilities and a wholesome environment for trading; the Ministry had invited tenders for the improvement in the lighting and ventilation systems for the Makola market.

He called on the traders to help in promoting the sale of Made in Ghana goods instead of imported items, which would offer jobs opportunities to the youth of the country. The traders were urged to police each other to curb the smuggling and pirating of African prints on the country's textile trade. Mr Afram-Asiedu appealed to them to help improve the sanitary conditions in the Central Business District by properly disposing of rubbish.

He said the Ministries of Trade, Local Government, Rural Development and Environment and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly were fashioning out modalities to make the bi-monthly clean up campaigns less time consuming, cost effective and convenient. Nana Adansi Twum Barima I, Chairman of the Association, said it was formed a year ago with the aim to fight injustices in the trade sector and to help improve domestic trade through dialogue.