Two manufacturing companies, Aqua Fill and Multi Pak have shut down their bottling plants due to the implementation of the Tax Stamp Policy, Executive Secretary of the Food and Beverages Association of Ghana, Samuel Aggrey has said. “Yes, I can say that on authority that as of this morning, those companies, two of them that I know, the other one that produces the Aqua fill and then the other one is Multi Pak also on the line,” Mr Aggrey said in an exclusive interview with JoyBusiness. “The bottling lines have been shut down and we are waiting for the next step because nobody is sure what is going to happen even though government has given some assurances in getting them” Mr Aggrey is worried more businesses will also shut down, “because all these things were expected, we thought things would have been addressed to give confidence to the investors but unfortunately, nobody is seeing the way clear and this is why they are where they are now and until government address some of these issues than am afraid, more will follow.” Earlier, the Food and Beverage Association of Ghana (FBAG) threatened to withdraw all locally manufactured products from the market if the government goes ahead with the implementation of the Tax Stamp Policy on March 1st. Local manufacturers in Ghana are worried that the implementation of the Tax Stamp Policy has the potential of collapsing local manufacturing companies. But the Deputy Minister of Finance Kwaku Kwarteng, in a statement said, “Government has been engaging with eligible businesses on the implementation of this policy, and will continue to listen to concerns of businesses. However such expression of concerns cannot be a substitute for obeying the law.” “…government’s commitment now to the enforcement of the Excise Tax Stamp Act is total,” the statement added.