Finance ministry bemoans poor revenue collection by customs for the last 3 years.

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A deputy Finance Minister and Member of Parliament for Oboasi, Kwaku Kwarteng has bemoaned the poor rate of revenue collection on the part of Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority which has led to a continues decline of revenue target for the past three years.

Speaking at a day’s Seminar organized by the Maritime Courier publications, the Deputy Finance Minister in a speech read on his behalf cited that as at August, 2018, Customs revenue was short by 17%, a development that will deny Government the needed income for national development.

“As of August customs revenue was short by 17%. So if compliance levels will come up even like 5 or10% more, we will be able to reach our revenue targets,” he said.

Out of about 4.5billion cedis debt stock accrued by the Ghana Revenue Authority, nearly 80% of that is Customs related. This is because people are abusing a lot of the suspense regimes, warehousing, Transit and so on.

He advanced that, it is for these reasons that electronic systems need to be applied to recoup monies due to the state.

“And all these things are happening and there is a lot of proof to show that it is happening. And so the issue is that, yes, there is a lot of manpower in the GRA but it is not enough to monitor all these things manually. So then it means the electronic systems would have to come into place,” he said.

Importers and exporters were advised to take advantage of the electronic systems of doing business at the ports to clear cargo in time to avoid demurrage, rent and detention.

Source: BestNewsGH.com

 


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Kennedy Mornah is an Award Winning Ghanaian Journalist with over two decades of experience in the Ghanaian Media landscape spanning the electronic, print and digital media. He is a Media Consultant, a Corporate MC, Radio and TV Host, Founder and Publisher of the Maritime and Transport Digest Newspaper, Businessman, a Go getter and an optimist. He has worked for renowned media organizations including Diamond Fm in Tamale, Luv Fm in Kumasi, Oman Fm in Accra and Starr Fm in Accra In 2017 he received the Reporter of the Year Award at the Ghana Shippers Awards in Accra, Ghana.

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