A Deputy Trade and Industry Minister, Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, has indicated that the government is working to curtail the influx of cheap, substandard goods into the country on the domestic market as it seeks to concentrate commercial activities in the hands of Ghanaians.
“Ghana should not be the dumping ground for goods which come to compete with locally-made products and so we have tasked Customs to be very critical in their duties, especially regarding importation of drinks,” he told journalists on the sidelines of a working visit to the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Ghana Limited last Wednesday.
“As a government, we will empower them—Customs—to implement the full rigours of the law to deter importers who smuggle foreign goods to the market,” he said.
Mr. Ahenkorah reiterated that the influx of foreign goods, quite specifically beverages, on to the Ghanaian market is a phenomenon government can no longer tolerate as it is crippling local industries.
He added: “We remain committed to the promise to provide jobs to the people and one way of achieving that will be the concentration of trade in the hands of local companies.”
The working visit was to enable the deputy trade minister to gain first-hand information about the operations of the beverages manufacturer to ascertain challenges it faces and to assure management of government’s strong will to develop local industries.
Mr. Ahenkorah, however, appealed to the company to, as a matter of urgency, consider re-opening its Kumasi operations which was shut down in 2015 as a result of macro-economic difficulties, including the power crisis.
He said: “Government is worried about the shutdown of operations in Kumasi and the resultant reduction in workforce and we are ready to give you the needed support to resume operations to create jobs.”
Public Affairs and Communications Manager of the company, Bethel Yeboah, expressed optimism about the government’s policies to drive the growth of local businesses but stressed that there was need for prudent fiscal management to reduce the cost of doing business in the country.
“We appreciate the various efforts of the government to make businesses more competitive but there is more to be done. For instance, we are asking government to implement fiscal policies that will help to cut down interest rates that are soaring the cost of doing business in the country.
If government is able to meet the needs of businesses to expand and become competitive, then we can create more employment opportunities for the youth.”
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