GRA scraps ‘benchmark’ on 32 items; prices of building materials, other prices to shoot up

A letter written to Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to that effect dated 11 November 2021 and signed by Commissioner-General Rev. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, said: “We write to inform you that following discussions on various fora, it has been agreed that discount on some commodities currently being enjoyed should be reversed to achieve revenue effect”.

The items include sugar, (pasta, spaghetti, noodles, macaroni), palm oil – crude and refined oils, aluminium finished products (roofing sheets), toilet paper, facial tissue and towel, chocolate, portland cement, clinker etc., and mosquito coil.

The others are vehicles, ceramic tiles, aluminium products, cartons, boxes of paper, paperboard cases of corrugated paper, machete, water, soft (including mineral and aerated with sugar (including sweetened)), plastic – chapter 39, tile cement, textiles and textile articles, iron steel bars, rolls forged and structures, fruit juices, tomato paste & ketchup, cement paper bags, furniture and parts.

The rest are toilet soap, laundry bar soap, detergents – washing powder, lubricating oil, alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and carbonated drinks, flexible packing materials, biscuits/wafers, cigarettes, pharmaceuticals, machinery and equipment, plant.

Read the GRA’s letter below:

Removal of Benchmark Values on Selected Items Commences From November 15, 2021

Our letter on the “brief on the removal of the benchmark on selected items” dated September 27, 2021, refers.

We write to inform you that following discussions on various fora, it has been agreed that discount on some commodities currently being enjoyed should be reversed to achieve revenue effect.

To this end, November 15, 2021, is, therefore, slated for the effective date for the implementation of the removal of the benchmark values on some selected items.

Copy of the list is attached.

For ease of reference, a copy of the letter with reference CG/GRA/MOF/110/21 is also attached for your consideration.

We count much on your usual cooperation.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Rev. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah

Commissioner-General

A few months ago, the President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association, Dr Joseph Obeng, warned that any intention by the government to scrap the 50% Benchmark Value at the ports “will be suicidal”.

In a press statement, Dr Obeng said: “Any attempt to remove this good policy of the government that brought relief will be suicidal for the state because it will not only collapse business but also cause an unbearable rise in prices of goods and services beyond the reach of consumers, especially, low-income earners and the unemployed”.