The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has described as a game
changer, the policy by the Akufo-Addo government to reduce benchmark
values of imported goods and auto vehicles by 50% and 30% respectively.
Addressing a news conference on Sunday, April 7, at the Party’s Headquarters in Accra, the General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu praised President Akufo-Addo and his government, particularly the Economic Management Team (EMT) led by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, for listening to the cries of the Ghanaian people and reducing import duties for them.
The reduction, Mr. John Boadu believes will help ease the burden and
hardships on Ghanaians and also reduce the prices of goods in the market
for the average Ghanaian.
“To facilitate trade, make our ports competitive in the region, and to further reduce the costs of goods and services even with a single digit inflation, government has introduced a raft of measures at the ports that is ground-breaking,” John Boadu indicated.
In explaining the effects of these reductions, Mr. John Boadu
observed that “the effect of this is that the dutiable value of say a
container-load of tin tomatoes which may have been say GH₵100,000.00
attracting say 10% in total fees, charges, and duties of GH₵10,000.00
has immediately become GH₵50,000.00, resulting in lower total fees,
charges, and duties of just GH₵5,000.00. This, in turn, translates to
affordable prices of tin tomatoes on the market for Ghanaians of all
income groups and jobs for more people along the line etc”.
Mr. John Boadu took a swipe at the opposition National Democratic
Congress (NDC) who, he said, having been shocked politically with this
reduction, have made several attempts to create the impression that the
reductions will not impact the net duties paid by importers.
In his rebuttal, Mr. Boadu adduced several exhibits to advance his case.
In a Facebook post on Thursdays 4th April, 2019, just a day after the
announcement of the policy, one Ross Berizaya Ayine stated: “I am very
impressed and pleased with the NPP and Dr. Bawumia for the reduction in
import duties.”
“This is a great move and by far, it is the best policy in governance
and in the right direction. God bless all who contributed to this
success and to the brain (s) behind this splendid move. I cleared a
Honda Civic Touring at GHc31,000 just last week and clearing another
under GHc18,000 today. If all successive governments could initiate
(sic) these kind of policies, Ghana as a country would be a better place
to live. Politics isn’t about colours but reality.”
According to Buadu, this account by Mr. Ayine has been corroborated by the President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) and his members, as well as several individuals who have cleared cars and goods at the ports since Thursday.
The reduction he said, thus appears to be a popular policy that is
likely to cause significant reductions in the prices of goods and auto
vehicles on the market.
