Presidential candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has reiterated his commitment to introduce fixed exchange rates, aimed at alleviating forex pressure faced by traders.
This he explained would enhance the business-friendliness of ports.
According to the Vice President, this would also mitigate the risk of losing port traffic to neighbouring countries.
He was speaking during the town hall meeting with the Pharmaceutical Society and other Pharma Groups.
“We’re going to change the duty structure and go into more of a flat specific duty. If you have a 40-footer container, you know how much you are paying in cedis. So, you take the exchange rate out of the matter and deal with it.
“We are also going to make sure that our duties in ports by policy cannot be higher than in Lome, which is our competitor. And right now, there’s a lot of diversion of containers to Lome because ours are higher.”
On his part, Dr. Kow Donkor, President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, said: “We know the oil industry; the Bank of Ghana makes available the US dollars for their imports, pharmaceutical industry and medicines are also special items. When you have a shortage of medicines, that becomes a national security issue.
“If the central bank is going to make funding available at a special rate for the pharmaceutical importers and manufacturers, it will also go a long way to stabilize the prices.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
