Stakeholders within Ghana’s trading space and government are expected to have a series of exhaustive consultations on the much-debated benchmark value policy.
The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) president, Dr. Joseph Obeng, has vowed that he will not go into the imminent stakeholder consultations on the benchmark value policy’s future with an entrenched position.
Dr. Obeng expressed that: “We won’t take any entrenched position at the meeting. We will have to be objective and patriotic”.
The GUTA president made this known while giving his remarks on the Eye on Port programme following the directive of President Nana Akufo-Addo for the Ghana Revenue Authority to suspend its planned implementation of reversing the benchmark reduction policy.
This declaration answers existing fears that GUTA would remain relentless on its position that the benchmark value reduction that was introduced by government in 2019 should not be reviewed or reversed.
Dr. Joseph Obeng however called for government, as well as the Association of Ghana Industries, to exercise objectivity in order to reach a consensus beneficial to the nation.
As widely reported, the Association of Ghana Industries, (AGI) has been very pivotal in driving the agenda for reversal of the benchmark value policy – saying it is crippling local industries while giving undue competitive advantage to imported products.
The GUTA president also called for the Ghana Revenue Authority to withdraw its deferment date of Jan 17 for implementation of the reversal.
Dr. Obeng said: “It goes contrary to the president’s direction. President Akufo-Addo said we should have a stakeholder engagement, so when we are done and reach a consensus, we can then decide on the benchmark.”
He praised the leadership demonstrated by President Nana Akufo-Addo by his swift intervention in the matter.
