The President of the Ghana Publishers Association, Asare Konadu Yamoah, has revealed how the cost of producing textbooks has increased as compared to importing them from other countries.

In an interview with Roselyn Felli on Prime Morning, on Monday, he indicated that the reason for the high cost of production is due to the importation of some of the materials required for production.

“When we were printing from outside, the cost of production up to the point of entry, which is Tema, was about 60% lower than what we’re doing for local printing because the key component of production, paper, is imported.”

Speaking of the current hikes in the prices of textbooks, Mr. Yamoah stated that it will be difficult for the prices to be reduced until the papers are locally produced.

Considering the current state of the country’s economy and the dollar-cedi rate, he said, “Until perhaps the next season, when we’ve seen that all things have subsided and the economy is stable, we will not get the prices of books coming down in the foreseeable future.”

He also stated that price increases will continue until papers are exempt from VAT. The exclusion, he said, will help reduce the cost of production.

As the government is interested in improving the country’s economy, he urged the leaders to focus on establishing a paper production factory to help reduce the costs involved.

He further debunked some allegations about publishers reviewing textbooks annually, saying it is done within a period of five years.