Govt urged to streamline duty drawback regime
Businesses in the country are calling on the government to streamline the documentary procedures associated with the duty drawback regime.
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That, they said, would ensure quick refunds as well as improve business operations and increase revenue generation for companies that operated in the export trade.
The businesses raised the concerns at a sensitisation workshop on duty drawback organised by the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce (GNCC), in Accra.
One after the other, the participants took turns to voice their concerns about the negative effects of the duty drawback mechanism on business operations.
A participant, Mr John Duah, told the Daily Graphic after the event that due to the challenges associated with the drawback, his company’s revenue had reduced drastically.
Explaining further, he said, his company had applied for the drawback for the past two years but they were yet to receive their entitlement.
“This leaves majority of us (applicants) still having our funds locked up with the government, a condition which starved us of liquidity,” he noted.
Advocacy action
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of the GNCC, Mr Mark Badu-Aboagye, said due to the challenges involved in the duty drawback regime, GNCC with its partners had already started an advocacy campaign to sensitise the public.
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“An advocacy action had already been intensified to reduce the bottlenecks and cumbersome nature of the administrative procedures of the drawback regime,” he said.
He said the chamber, with funding from Business Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC), had conducted a study on the duty drawback regime dubbed ‘Streamlining the Duty Drawback Process in Ghana’.
The study was aimed at evaluating the operational challenges and bottlenecks that had bedevilled the implementation of the duty drawback framework.
Findings of the study
The study also revealed that a large number of exporters who applied for the duty drawback over the past two years had not received their due in full.
The payment of drawback refunds could take about 10 months depending on follow-ups, the study found.
In extreme cases, payment of refund could be made after two years, while the shortest possible period for refund was five months.
Another key concern the study highlighted was that most of the manufacturers and business owners did not have prior knowledge about the laws and regulations governing the duty drawback regime.
"For instance, they do not know which of the imported goods would be processed as re-exports and on which drawback could be claimed," it stated.
Another major challenge hampering the effective implementation of the duty drawback scheme was the insufficient funds in the escrow account to settle drawbacks.