Members of GHATEX educated on VAT benefits

Accra, Sept 29, GNA - The Ghana Association Of Plantation Wood Millers and Exporters (GHATEX) on Thursday educated its members on the benefits of registering with the Value Added Tax (VAT) Secretariat, especially in the marketing of their products at a forum in Accra. Mr Asante Bediako, National Vice Chairman of GHATEX, who facilitated the programme, said members could only explore the export market if they paid VAT.

He, therefore, urged them to register with the VAT Secretariat to enable them to enter the export trade.

Mr Bediako expressed the need for the VAT Secretariat to step up its public education especially in the rural areas where knowledge on the tax was scanty and asked his colleagues to plant more teak trees to reap immense economic benefits to themselves and the country. Mr Kofi Frimpong, Director of the Vision 2050 Agro Forestry Ghana, a non-governmental organisation, told his colleagues that he was unable to export a large quantity of teak because he had not registered with VAT.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview, Mr Frimpong appealed to the Government to assist the NGO with funds and logistics to expand its activities and employ more people. He said due to lack of funds the organisation was yet to mobilise a workforce to start an agro-forestry project on 40 hectares it had acquired at Agomeda in The Greater Accra Region to start an agro-forestry project.