No more overaged car imports as Parliament passes Customs Amendment Bill

Ghanaians will no longer be able to import overaged vehicles (10 years or more) and salvaged vehicles into the country following the passage of the Customs (Amendment) Bill 2020 by Parliament.

The law will ban the importation of these specific vehicles which will cause car dealers and the nation some huge amount of revenue.

Ghana is set to lose over GHS802 million for the first three years in tax waivers.

The move by the government to bring the law to fruition is to stimulate the automotive industry which will see the launch of the Volkswagen Assembling Plant next month.

Toyota, Sinotruk and Renault will follow suit with their assembling plants this year.

Making remarks during the approval of the joint report of Trade and Finance Committee, Deputy Ranking Member of the Trades Committee, Inusah Fuseini, who led the opposition of the bill, argued that the coming into fruition of the law will affect the livelihood of many Ghanaians

His argument was supported by Ho Central MP Benjamin Kpodo and the Ranking Member of the Committee of Transport Governance, Mr Kwame Agbodza.

However, Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, who is the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Trades Minister Alan Kyerematen and Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, disagreed.

Their argument was that the new automotive law will create many jobs for the teeming youth because of the establishment of the assembling plants of the multinational firms.

The Trade’s Minister on Monday visited the assembling plant of VW at the North Industrial Area in Accra, to have first-hand insight regarding the ongoing work of the automobile giant.

“I assure Volkswagen and its local assembler in Ghana of the full support of the government in creating an enabling environment and incentive framework to make their investment a major success," he said.