The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), has described its first engagement with government and other stakeholders since the suspension of the reversal of the benchmark values as “largely successful”.

President of GUTA, Dr. Joseph Obeng, tells Joy Business that the trading community is reaching a compromise for a reduction in the discount value with member associations including the Association of Ghana Industries in order to reach a win-win situation.

“The meeting has been largely successful. We are grateful to the Deputy Trade Minister in charge of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Oheneba Dokua Asiamah-Adjei, for sitting with us and listening to our concerns regarding the benchmark values. It is clear our broader stakeholder engagement will result in a compromise of a sort that neutralises the entrenched positions of all business and trading associations in Ghana,” he pointed out.

The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) had urged the government to remain unwavering in its decision to implement the reversal of the benchmark value discount policy.

It argued that maintaining the policy at its current form would lead to the collapse of local industries and result in job losses.

Dr. Humphrey Ayim-Darke, the President of AGI, who was addressing journalists in Accra on Monday, 10th January, 2022, stressed that maintaining the benchmark discount policy would not support the country’s industrial transformation agenda initiatives such as the One District One Factory, Planting for Food and Jobs, fertilizer subsidy and the export development agenda.

The benchmark value discount policy was introduced by the government in 2019, in accordance with the World Customs Organisation policy of regular review of valuation database.

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) suspended the implementation of the reversal of discounts on benchmark values until further notice.

In a statement issued on Thursday, 13th January, 2022, the authority said the decision is to enable further engagements with all the relevant stakeholders