The Assistant Commissioner, large taxpayer office at the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Dr. Martin Yamborigya, has disclosed that the revised benchmark values would not hinder the achievement of their revenue target for 2022.

Dr. Yamborigya explained that the revised benchmark values would rather lead to an increase in revenue because the duties that would be charged on imported items would increase.

"It wouldn't affect, it would rather increase the revenue target, in the sense that the value based on which your duties would be paid, because of the reduction, would rather go up a little.

He said this in an interview on Wednesday, March 15, 2022, on Joy FM's Super Morning Show.

However, he acknowledged the fact that the slight increase in duties may reduce the number of imports into the country.

"So we are expecting that we should be able to get more revenue than its cancellation. The only thing that people say is, maybe when the duties are high, people may not import," he added.

When the government announced in 2019 that benchmark values for some general goods would be reduced by 50% and for vehicles by 30%, the goal was to stimulate traffic at the port and therefore enhance government revenue.

However many trade unions, like the Ghana Union of Traders Associations (GUTA), Association of Ghana Industries, and several importers kicked against this policy which led to a further reduction in the policy to 30% and 10% for selected goods and vehicles respectively.

Following the agitations, the Deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei Asare, announced the new benchmark values, which took effect on March 1, 2022.

Dr. YamborigYa, however, stated that "looking at the difference in terms of the reduction, I don't think it is that significant to affect consumer behavior."

The Ghana Revenue Authority has set a target of about GHC80.3 billion as its 2022 revenue target.

The new revenue target is a major objective the Ghana revenue Authority wants to achieve, thus all financial and economic policies that would help the government achieve this policy would be effectively rolled out.