Export Authority misses annual target
The Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) earned less than it projected from non-traditional exports (NTEs) in 2013.
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The authority had projected to rake in some US$3.3 billion from the NTEs last year.
This is likely to further worsen the country’s financial position no matter how marginal.
Its Chief Executive Officer, Mr Gideon Quarcoo, however, said in an interview that last year's earnings totalled US$2.46 billion; an amount he said could have been higher if the current leakages in export earnings arising from illegal exports had been plugged.
Despite the shortfall, the 2013 earnings represent a marginal increase from the US$2.42 billion that was recorded in 2012.
"Some people have this tendency of keeping products in their briefcases and passing them through unapproved routes to export. When that happens, we are not able to track to know the actual amount coming in and so we won't be able to capture all," Mr Quarcoo told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on May 15.
GEPA, which is the NTE-promotion arm of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI), currently depends on statistics on exports of the NTEs given it by the Ghana Community Network (GCNet) and other exit points manned by the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
Those figures, Mr Quarcoo said, do not, to an extent represent the full export earnings of the country.
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"To be blunt with you, I think we may even be losing more revenue from these leakages than what we are getting," he said.
Customs, others must act
Although Mr Quarcoo admitted the adverse effects of the leakages on national revenue and NTE earnings in particular, he said it was not within the ambit of the GEPA to plug those loopholes.
"This is something that customs would have to deal with and I think they have to act quickly. We can't afford to have people divert exports and escape tariffs," he said.
He thus called on the management of the GRA and the Customs Division in particular to put in place mechanisms that would deter people from engaging in such practices, given the impact on national revenue targets.
Annual export targets revised down
About six months ago, the MoTI and its agencies launched the National Export Strategy, in which it set for itself a target of raking in some US$5 billion from NTEs by 2017.
The US$5 billion target was initially set for 2015 but later revised to 2017 due to some challenges that made the 2015 date difficult to realise.
Given that the GEPA was the implementing body of the strategy, its Director of Internal Audit, Mr Stephen Normeshie, said in a separate interview that the authority had been forced to revise its annual targets down in line with the 2017 one.
"The 2013 target, for instance, should have been US$2.7 billion but because we were still operating with the 2015 one, that's how come we had US$3.3 billion," he said.
Both Mr Normeshie and the CEO, however, gave the assurance that the GEPA would do its best to increase earnings while growing the businesses of export-oriented companies.