The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) is pushing for a special discount on imports of raw materials to make producers more competitive in the country.
According to the association, the move is aimed at helping the government build a strong manufacturing sector and aid manufacturers thrive under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Ghana Industries, Seth Twum-Akwaboah, who appealed to a sensitisation workshop organised by the AGI and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), said critical attention needs to be given to the manufacturing sector to grow to support the government’s industrial transformation agenda initiatives such as 1D1F, Planting for Food and Jobs, and other export development programmes.
“For most countries that put the manufacturing agenda first, when you’re importing raw materials to further process you don’t pay taxes on the raw materials and the machines and all that because they are not for sale. We call that pre-production tax. The main tax that you would have to pay must be post-production. If I import raw materials and process and sell and make money, the more money I make the more taxes I pay.
So it is not a question of exempting me. It is just a matter of shifting the tax to post-production. And that is what some countries adopt to support their local manufacturers. In Ghana, we import raw materials and we are paying taxes. This is not consistent in any serious developmental agenda for industrialisation,” he said.
Agrihouse foundation introduces 1H1G to people living with disabilities in the North-East Region.
In a bid to bridge food security and reduce poverty among vulnerable women and people living with disability in Ghana,...