{"id":655761,"date":"2019-07-13T10:24:28","date_gmt":"2019-07-13T10:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"
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\"Ken<\/p>\n
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\"Ken
Ken Ofori Atta, Finance Minister <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Government says it has cleared all outstanding debts due GETFUND up until April this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta disclosed this when he was responding to a question posed by Member of Parliament for Akatsi North Peter Nortsu Kotoe in parliament on \u201c why the Ministry has failed to release to the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) its appropriated funds for August to November 2018 and January to May 2019 to enable GETFund to meet its obligations?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Ofori-Atta noted that all transfers due them for 2017 and 2018 are fully paid and the 2019 transfers due them have also been paid up to April.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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He noted that \u201cWe have paid down the 2016 arrears of over GH\u00a2400 million we inherited, except for claims totalling GH\u00a276,606,349.42 which we are yet to reconcile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent revenue measures yielding results<\/strong><\/p>\n

The minister told parliament that recent revenue measures implemented are getting the desired results.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past 3 years, year on year impressive growth in collections in 2017 and 2018 were 32.3% and 37.6%,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Mr Ofori-Atta, for instance, cites that since the introduction of the paperless system in September 2017 revenue grew by 51% (from GH\u00a21.8 billion in 2016 to GH\u00a22.8 billion in 2018).<\/p>\n

The minister also highlighted these key points<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2756 Reduction in clearance time by over 50% for compliant transactions
\u2756 Reduction in cost of doing business: Average clearance cost per 20 footer containers has since reduced by 75% (from GH\u00a21,280.00 to GH\u00a2320.00) for compliant transactions. Elimination of the falsification of hard copies of customs declaration.<\/p>\n

Cargo Tracking Note has had a positive impact at the ports:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2756 The last quarter of 2018 assessment of policy impact showed a marginal increase in import revenue by about 8.3% (declared FOB GH\u00a2241 million against assessed FOB of GH\u00a2261 million).
\u2756 The results of the first quarter of 2019 also indicate an increase of 4.1% in import revenue as a direct result of this policy with declared FOB value at GHC\u00a2471million and Assessed FOB value at GH\u00a2490 million.
\u2756 The perennial doctoring of invoices has been eliminated by about 80%.
\u2756 Information is now available to detect any suspected over-invoicing activities by importers engaging in \u2013 capital flight activities; money laundering, transfer mispricing, etc. Since its commencement over 3,285 suspected cases of over-invoicing has been identified.<\/p>\n

The port transformation has also resulted in a 50% reduction in benchmark values on general goods and 30% reduction in Home Delivery Values (HDV) on vehicles were announced on April 4, 2019.<\/p>\n

Transfer\u00a0of 20 Customs officials<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr Ofori-Atta said, \u201cMr Speaker, I together with the Minister for Transport, visited the Tema port yesterday to continue my Ministry\u2019s monitoring of the impact of the reforms. Apparently, my visit has generated some discussions and I am reported to have fired 20 customs officials on sight.<\/p>\n

Mr Speaker, this is not accurate, what is actually happening is for some twenty officers who have unperformed and\/or have been in the same role for years to be transferred to other positions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearance of judgment debt<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Minister noted that the government\u2019s approach is to renegotiate most of these judgement debts and ensure that the necessary savings are made.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ken Ofori-Atta added that \u201cwe managed to save the taxpayer GH\u00a290m through negotiations. In another instance, we negotiated a savings of GH\u00a2130m on a claim of over GHS 180m\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the Minister, outstanding judgment debt in January 2017 stood at GH\u00a2482,413,354.13. In addition, a number of cases have been pending in court; out of this, a further GH\u00a2197,076,438.15 has crystalized bringing the total amount to GH\u00a2679,489,792.28.<\/p>\n

Charging company registration fees without Parliamentary approval<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr Ofori-Atta added, \u201cwe have directed the Public Procurement Authority to suspend the charging of all fees and charges that have not been approved by Parliament in accordance with Act 983\u201d. <\/p>\n

Source: Joy Business<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n