IMF must police customs exemption reductions - IEAG

The Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana (IEAG) has appealed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to strictly police the bailout conditionality, especially the reduction of customs exemptions.

Mr. Samson Asaki Awingobit, the Executive Secretary of the IEAG, said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tema that having such a conditionality aimed at curbing revenue leakages and promoting domestic production through the reduction of imported goods was not enough.

Mr. Awingobit said: “You and I know that we are living in a country, where the laws look good on paper, but the same people will pass the backdoor to enjoy such exemptions on goods that they are supposed to pay for.”

He therefore asked the IMF to have its representatives at the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and at the various ports, as well as be part of the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) to see every dealing and the import tax exemption requests.

He said it was worrying that individuals and companies in a better position to pay for the numerous taxes and rates rather received the exemptions, while ordinary Ghanaians importing a container of goods had to pay huge amounts.

He stated, for instance, that he did not see why a company like Meridian Ports Service (MPS) would receive exemptions for port facilities when such investments could easily be recouped from its operations.

He explained that per the MPS agreement, Terminal Three would receive every vessel carrying more than 40,000 containers, adding that giving a company like that received such high port calls was not right.