The government has dismissed claims by Acra Brewery Limited that amendments to Ghana’s beer excise duty sliding scale could unintentionally undermine local production, discourage future investment and put thousands of jobs across the beer value chain at risk.

In a detailed rejoinder, it said the sliding scale has not been abolished; but it has rather been retained in its three-band form, and a preferential margin of 22.5 percentage points below the standard rate remains available to producers in the top band.

Again, it said the review was prompted by evidence that the concession is being claimed at a scale and on a basis that the underlying local agricultural production does not support.

Additionally, the competitiveness argument advanced in the publication is arithmetically unsustainable once the statutory bases of assessment for imported and locally manufactured goods are correctly applied.

ABL has said the proposed changes to the beer Local Raw Materials (LRM) sliding scale could have the opposite effect, particularly if implemented in 2026.

It added that the potential impact on its budget is estimated at US$7.5 million, based on FY27 implementation assumptions. More importantly, the implications extend beyond one company or one industry.

Again, the proposed structure creates a significant imbalance between companies that import beer for distribution and companies that have invested heavily in manufacturing beer locally.

However, the government argued that the issues raised by ABL is untrue, adding that the employment figures cited do not measure what the publication uses them to measure.

It stated that the article fails to substantiate any of the concerns by ABL. However, it mentioned that on the single question that prompted the review, namely whether the local raw material utilisation condition attached to the concession is actually being met, the publication is silent.

It expressed doubt over ABL's $7.5 million and 2,000-jobs figures as unsubstantiated and not reproducible, and said a widely cited Oxford Economics sector-employment figure was being misapplied to a narrower policy question. Government estimated cumulative revenue foregone under the existing structure at about GH¢1.75 billion between 2023 and 2025.

It pointed out that it would not suspend enacted rates on unquantified assertions, and invited ABL to submit verifiable data, including supplier and aggregator records, employment figures and financial reconciliations for review by the Finance Ministry and GRA.