Local textile companies cry for government’s support

The Textile, Garment & Leather Employees Union (TGLEU), has announced that it will begin a negotiation process this month to get government waive some taxes on local textiles companies.

According to the union, negotiations will commence after it has submitted a presentation to government.

The General Secretary of the TGLEU, Mr. Abraham Koomson, in an interview with Citi FM in Accra stated that the union upholds government to waive the taxes some of the textile companies have accumulated to enhance the sector.

“Some of these companies think that it is profitable even to go into buying and selling business rather than they importing raw materials to manufacture here, their only aim is to create jobs for our people but if government does not come in they may be tempted to go into buying and selling and it may not help the economy to grow.

“I hold the idea of government intervening seriously to support the industry either by loans or waive some of the taxes they pay now,” he stressed.

This latest move follows the closure of two textile manufacturing companies, Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL) and Akotex Synthetics Limited last year by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) for failing to live up to their tax obligations for the past four years.