Shipping lines charge import duties above approved rate – Exporters Association

Executive Secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, Sampson Awingobit, has pointed out that some shipping lines operating in Ghana are charging import duties, way above the prescribed Bank of Ghana (BoG) approve rate.

According to him, the BoG has pegged the import duties between GH¢5.4 and GH¢5.5 per dollar, however, the shipping lines which he fails to mention names, are charging between GH¢5.8 and GH¢5.9 per dollar.

He disclosed this on the Executive Breakfast show on Class 91.3FM Tuesday January 21 that this action smacks of criminality for which the BoG and other state security agencies must intervene and arrest the culprits for prosecution.

“If you go to Tema where I operate from,” he told host Benjamin Akapko, “some shipping companies are locally handling charges around GH¢5.8 and GH¢5.9

“I raised these issues and the BoG, EOCO and the National security sit there and nobody goes after those people.”

He added: “If the BoG is trading at GH¢5.5 or 5.4 to calculate custom duties and the shipping lines are using GH¢5.9 and GH¢5.8 why is that nobody is going after them?”

Further touching on the Forex Committee formed by the Ministry of Finance to investigate circumstance leading to the fall of the cedi against the major trading currencies, Mr. Awingobit said the formation of the committee was needles because the issues affecting the local currency are well-known by the BoG and the Ministry of Finance.

“We have the Bank of Ghana which looks at monetary policy, we have the Ministry of Finance which also looks at fiscal policies. So now, the BoG and the Ministry of Finance have to work in coherent.”

“Are you telling me that the BoG is not aware of the group of people on the Black Market that when the BoG sets the daily rate for the banks, the banks also turn to direct people to go to the black market to trade?”, he continued.

“Is this committee coming to say arrest the Aljhajis at the black market and prosecute them? The BoG is aware of these issues, they know about these things happening on the black market.

Prescribing another solution, he said “We need to look at our manufacturing aspect, we need to look at export. Currently we are lacking in export. We don’t have so much non-traditional commodities that we are exporting. We need to go to the non-traditional ones more.”

For his part, Joe Jackson, Director of Strategy and Business Operations at Dalex Finance said Ghana must adopt policies that enure that more dollars are brought into the country.

“The issue is not that somebody is playing with your dollar. The issues is that as a nation we don’t bring in enough dollars. The dollars we bring in, where do they go?”, he questioned

He added “That 40-member committee, I don’t know whatever they are going to say that we don’t already know. I was in the economics department first year at the University in 1985 and everything this committee is going to say we already know them.”