The Minister of Trade and Industry Haruna Iddrisu has stated that importers will now be able to clear their goods within 24 hours at the port.

He said “it is the commitment of government and the Mahama administration to reduce the time and transaction cost of the clearance of goods and services”.

This follows the passage of the revised customs bill by parliament to aid this change.

The revised regulations would allow the customs division of the Ghana Revenue Authority to work in shifts throughout the day.

He confirmed that a number of initiatives are being worked on by the Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport to improve processes by the institution responsible for the ports.

This will enable the ports achieve less cost in terms of clearance and less cost in terms of transaction procedure  in clearing goods and services at the ports.

Managers of the port who hitherto wanted to implement the process from 2015 have agreed to begin the process earlier than expected.

In a related development  The Trade Ministry says  it  would prosecute foreigners found operating in retail markets.

The warning was contained in a public notice signed by Haruna Iddrisu today.

The notice also cautioned that it would put on trial anyone found to be renting out his or her store in the retail market to a foreigner.

The country's investment laws currently bar foreigners from trading in retail markets, an area which is reserved for indigenes.