The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has refuted allegations that the country has raised rice import duties by about by 100 percent.Members of the Ghana–Cote d’Ivoire Rice Importers Association are alleged to have made the claim.Annie Anipa, Public Affairs and Communications Team Leader of GRA, however says the claim cannot be true and that “no increase in duty rates has occurred since the introduction of 20 percent import duties on selected imports including rice in January 2010.”A statement released by the authority and signed by Madam Anipa noted that “What has rather occurred in recent times is the review of the value which rice importers present at the Western frontiers.”The statement said Customs, following the introduction of a new Valuation Assurance Module has discovered that importers of rice from Cote d’Ivoire who mostly buy from a particular company in Cote d’Ivoire declare US$130.00 as the value per metric tonne. Incidentally, the same company which also happens to operate in Ghana quotes US$300.00 per metric tonne when it imports rice through Tema port, a value which even falls short of the national average unit value of U$523 declared for rice imports per metric tonne this year.It continued that all that “Customs has done is to apply prevailing world market price to rice imports from Cote d’Ivoire, that is, US$0.97 per kilo for high quality brands, and US$0.42 per kilo on broken rice. These new measures only align values for rice imported through the overland frontiers with values applied to price at the sea ports. This does not only establish equity but also levels the playing field for importers of rice irrespective of the point of entry.”