The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) will punish any individual or company found smuggling goods into the country. This emerged when Commissioner-General Emmanuel Kofi Nti and team visited spare parts hub, Abossey Okine to allay fears of traders, spare parts weren’t captured in the benchmark items listed.
Mr. Nti stated “smuggling does not happen at the ports” rather folks use trucks to smuggle goods from neighbouring countries into Ghana warning smuggled goods, conveyer and driver of the trucks used will all be impounded when captured.
“If the complaint was that duty was high, it’s been attended to,” Mr. Nti declared adding that there must be a trickle-down effect such that if someone paid GHc40,000 to have his goods cleared at the ports and now pays GHc20,000, people should see evidence in price reduction as he is no longer spending as much to clear the goods.
“Across board, prices must come down so that it’s no longer in anyone’s interest to keep prices,” he further submitted.
A government policy to offer a 30 percent discount on home delivery value (HDV) on vehicles, as well as a 50 percent reduction in the benchmark values for general imports was declared by Vice President Dr. Bawumia some days ago at the Economic Management Team town hall meeting.
By Michael Eli Dokosi/goldstreetbusiness.com