The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has begun engaging with the Ministry of Finance over a tax dispute involving Accra Brewery Limited (ABL), with the industry body pushing for an urgent resolution.

AGI President Seth Twum Akwaboah says the issue goes beyond ABL and could have wider implications for alcoholic beverage manufacturers that rely on locally sourced raw materials.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, he said the government did not deliberately design the tax policy to target ABL.

“Normally, when it comes to tax policies or general policies, you don’t develop policies to target a particular company. And I don’t think that was the intention of government, not at all.”

He said the government may have been seeking to raise more revenue through changes to different tax handles, but industry must be allowed to point out where the approach could have unintended consequences.

“I think that government probably was looking at these revenue handles and says, If I do that gymnastics, so if I put a bit of this here, a bit of that here, I can generate so much revenue and I balance my books.”

“But in doing so, then others have to draw your attention to the fact that perhaps for this one, you should have used a different channel, calculated this this way, slapped here and there.”

Mr Akwaboah said the dispute is particularly important because of the impact of the sliding scale tax regime on local manufacturing.

The sliding scale is designed to support manufacturers that use local materials by offering a special tax regime. According to the AGI president, the policy has helped companies develop supply chains for locally sourced raw materials across the country.

“This is a sector which affects all those who are producing alcoholic beverages; they will be affected by this, especially those who are using local materials and have the opportunity to use what we call the sliding scale model.”

He argued that the regime should be protected because of the benefits it has generated for local value chains.

“The intention of developing or introducing the sliding scale has been good, and we need to keep it, and we need to protect it because it has had a positive effect.”

“The positive effect is that indeed the companies, trying to take advantage of the tax reductions, have developed the value chains, which are now cutting across the country, and are picking raw materials everywhere.”

The AGI has already received a petition on the matter and has begun discussions with government officials.

Mr Akwaboah said the engagement with the Finance Ministry effectively started on Thursday during an AGI Corporate Forum, where technical officials from the ministry were invited.

“We had a program today, and we invited the ministry. The ministry sent some technical officials to be with us, and presentations were made. So they understood the point.”

He said further engagements will be held to find a solution to the dispute.

“We need to further engage to see what can be done within this couple of days or weeks to resolve it.”

The development follows concerns over the tax treatment facing ABL, with the company warning of serious operational pressures.

The AGI’s intervention signals that the matter is now being treated as an industry-wide policy concern rather than an isolated dispute involving one company.

Mr Akwaboah said the association will continue engaging the Finance Ministry as it seeks a resolution.

“It is quite recent. We’ve had a petition. We are looking at it and very soon attend to it.”