President John Dramani Mahama has applauded the Ghana Revenue Authority and its technical partners, WestBlue Consulting for a successful implementation of the Ghana National Single Window Project which according to him has yielded very significant results in terms of revenue mobilisation and trade facilitation in the country.
According to President Mahama, surmounting stiff opposition from several forces when the project was introduced last year, it has proven a year on, to be one of the best decisions to have been taken by government in the quest to improve trade facilitation and revenue mobilisation with the ultimate aim of making Ghana the hub of international trade in the subregion.
‘’Today one year on, it was not just a bold decision, but it has proven to be very successful as well, with waiting time for approval for customs classification and valuation reports reduced from sometimes over two weeks to less than two days and even currently hours in many cases’’ he noted.
Delivering the keynote address at the first anniversary celebration of the Ghana National Single Window and the launch of the Ghana Import Export and Transit Process Manual in Accra on Monday, president Mahama noted that to demonstrate government’s commitment to the National Single Window Project and provide a strong basis for further development, the legal framework for the programme has been established with the necessary amendments to the customs Act, adding that a five year strategic plan had also been duly approved.
‘’The Ghana Single Window is a particularly positive development for our international trade operations and helping us to achieve our vision of a diversified economy, effective revenue collection and deploying a transparent process to support our approach to good governance policies’’ president Mahama noted.
According to president Mahama, trade facilitation has been enhanced with over 57% increase of volumes of goods being processed at the customs technical services bureau, adding that revenue collection has become more effective with over 14.8% increase in collections over the last year since the inception of the programme.
He noted that the successes chalked by the Ghana Single Window Programme must be encouraged and replicated in other sectors of the economy.
The president intimated that measures were being instituted by government to reduce time and cost for traders and to ensure that there was enhanced predictability for both business and government, adding that it was his expectation that next year will be better than this year as far as the benefits being derived from the national single window was concerned.
He also lauded the initiation of the Import, Export and Transit Process Manual describing it as a detailed and comprehensive manual which according to him will simplify trade processes for optimum performance.
‘’Over the next five years we should achieve an overall reduction in administrative time by 50% and the cost of trading internationally by 25%’’ the president further stated.
