Report on Special Tax regime out in September

The Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF) would publish a report on the impact of the special tax regime on local industries in September to enable the government to assess its effectiveness on certain imported items and commodities.

The tax was introduced last year to support local industries. The Senior Economist of the Foundation, Mr Moses Agyemang announced this at a seminar on bookkeeping sponsored by USAID for 40 small-scale entrepreneurs in the Volta Region at Ho.

Mr Agyemang said the special tax system might be reviewed in line with international trade practices.

He said while the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regarded the special tax as protectionist, the state of most industries in Ghana made it necessary for some form of policy to facilitate their growth.

Mr Agyemang said the PEF would assist government to formulate policies to achieve the aim of supporting the local industries without infringing on WTO's regulations.

PEF which was founded in 1994 caters for the training of personnel of small-scale industries that are unable to bear training costs.

He said since its inception PEF has trained more than 400 small-scale entrepreneurs in business management.

Mr Mawutor Goh, Ho District Chief Executive (DCE) in a speech read for him expressed the hope that the participants would put into practice the knowledge they would acquire at the seminar to expand their businesses.

Mr Samuel Buama-Wiafe, a Management Consultant and a Resource Persons, said the inability of some businessmen to distinguish between their business and private accounts has led to the collapse of their ventures.