The Food and Beverage Association of Ghana is advocating for some tax holidays for foreign investors aiming to inject some capital into the beverage industry. 

Executive Secretary of the association, Samuel Aggrey, told JoyBusiness the call for tax holidays is to ease the cost of doing business in the country. This according to him, will subsequently reduce if not maintain the cost of beverages in 2019.

He said, “Come next year, we are joining other associations to push for certain tax holidays for some investors within the beverage industry. There are companies out there that want to settle in Ghana and be go production for the West African market. We believe these incentives, should they be granted, will deepen investments in the country.”

Challenging year

Meanwhile, the Food and Beverage Association of Ghana has described 2018 as one of the most challenging years for its members. 

With the introduction of the tax stamp policy, depreciation of the cedi, the introduction of the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) among others, Mr Aggrey warns failure by government to deal with these challenges could trigger food and beverage firms to either fold up or explore other means of recouping their losses.
Earlier, the Association had revealed government has not reached full agreement with it concerning issues surrounding the implementation of the tax stamp policy.

According to Samuel Aggrey, it is not clear-cut as to the way forward on how the stamps should be applied.  He reiterated that beverage importers or manufacturers should not be forced to embark on investment that “they are not ready to do.”

He said the Association has proposed ‘digital stamp’ as a solution to the problem. He believes investment in this is not only affordable but also yields optimum results in terms of revenue generation.

“Government, on the other side, stands to gain if it deploys the digital stamps; with this one, it’s only software and small machinery that would not even cost you more than 20,000 cedis, or even less, ” he said. 

Mr Aggrey said after furnishing the government with the proposal and several subsequent follow-ups with the Economic Management Team, the government is still yet to see reason with what has been presented.

He said the Association stands for tax compliance and does not seek to antagonize government.