State not losing revenue at entry points - GRA

The state is not losing any revenue at the country's entry points as the Integrated Customs Union Management Systems (ICUMS) deployed on June 1, 2020, is working creditably.

Rev. Amishaidai Owusu-Amoah, the Commissioner-General of Ghana Revenue Authority, who disclosed this at a press briefing said between June 1 and 17 the customs Division of the GRA was able to collect GH¢490 million cedis in revenue.

This, he said, compares favourably with the average monthly revenue collections of about GH¢942 million cedis from January to May this year from the country's entry points when the old system deployed by GCNET was in use.

"Looking at this trend, it is obvious that the Authority will not be losing revenue as being highlighted by some sections of society," he said.

"These numbers paint a very optimistic picture which speaks for itself. I wish to use this opportunity to assure the trading public that these are teething challenges which are associated with the introduction of every new system," he added.

While admitting that there were teething challenges with the system, the Commissioner-General said most of these initial problems were being fixed to allow for seamless operations.

He said since the implementation of the system started more than 53,000 Customs Bill of Entry had been processed nationwide, of which Tema Port alone submitted 16,000, adding that over 12,000 were related to pre-manifest processes.

"The current average is 1,500 BOEs a day which compares favourably with what was being processed in the previous system," he said.

Out of the total Tema BOEs, about 11,000 have been successfully processed while the remaining 5,000 of the BOEs are at various stages of processing at Customs Technical Services Bureau (CTSB).

About 4,000 that is 25 percent of the total submissions delayed for reasons such as unanswered queries by declarants for the necessary supporting documents, manifest mismatch and to effect corrections. These include MDA requirements such as permits and fees.

These queries as at a week today were at 40 percent but has reduced to 25 percent.



Mr Amishaidai said the revenue outcomes could have been relatively higher if the 25 percent of queries have been answered and the goods cleared.

On demurrage charges, the Commissioner-General said the GRA and the Ministry of Trade were engaging relevant stakeholders to see what can be done for cases related to initial challenges in the system.

Rev. Owusu-Amoah said the GRA would ensure that all challenges will be dealt with as they arise.

"I have full confidence that all staff of the Customs Division will rise up to the challenge to make ICUMS a success story and rake in the needed revenue for national development," he said.

ICUMS is a system built by Universal Pass (UNI-PASS), specially tailored to Ghana’s situation and provides an end-to-end supply chain solution that incorporates and consolidates existing systems currently in operation.