加纳政府采取措施要降低油价和部分产品进口关税

yawliu

《Daily Graphic》今日头版，加纳政府将采取措施降低油价，并降低大米，小麦，玉米和蔬菜油等产品的关税。

有关详情，明日发电子版。

kiasportage

刘版主的消息永远比我们灵通，佩服佩服啊！

znj83

期待中...................

yawliu

President J. A. Kufuor yesterday announced a five-prong initiative aimed at mitigating the hardships Ghanaians are facing as a result of escalating food and fuel prices.

As part of the initiative, the government has decided to reduce import duties on major food items and waive levies on some petroleum products.

In a nation-wide broadcast, the President directed the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning to seek the necessary parliamentary approval for the removal of the duties to take effect immediately.

Food items expected to benefit from the reduction in import duties are rice, wheat, yellow corn and vegetable oil and importers of these commodities are required to reduce prices accordingly, avoiding any attempt at re-exporting these items.

Indeed, it should be a criminal offence to attempt to re-export these items which are being declared tax-exempt purposely for the benefit of the local market,?president Kufuor said.

Excise duty and the debt recovery levy on premix oil are expected to be removed and those on gas oil, kerosene and marine gas oil will also be reduced.

Consequently, the President asked dealers in gas oil, kerosene and marine gas oil and transport operators to reduce prices and fares accordingly for the benefit of consumers and passengers.

He said additional measures being pursued by the government to reduce the burden of the distortions in global economy on Ghanaians would involve increasing support for the production of electricity to bring relief to domestic consumers, as well as subsidising fertiliser and ensuring its effective distribution to farmers for a good harvest.

The President broadcast comes at the heels of increasing pressures on the Ghanaian economy resulting from the distortions in the global market, particularly soaring fuel and food prices.

Giving the background to the situation which had necessitated the adoption of the measures, President Kufuor said over the past two years, the nation crude oil import bill had risen from $500 million in 2005 to $2.1 billion as of the end of 2007 and was gravitating to $2.5 billion for the same quantity of oil.

In November 2007, the current budget was prepared on estimated crude oil price of $85 per barrel but within the first quarter of 2008 alone, the estimate had gone beyond $125 per barrel and now hovering around $135 per barrel. There are even projections that the price may hit $200 before the end of the year.

The world economy has been witnessing phenomenal developments and trends, which are cumulatively generating turbulence, with far-reaching effects in many nations, including Ghana.

President Kufuor said thankfully, the national economy had been able to withstand the terrible shocks of the market so far and noted that this had been the result of the able, disciplined and far-sighted management of the economy by the government, backed by the Central Bank, over the past seven years.

But for these pragmatic and far-sighted policies and management, he noted, the socio-economic situation would have succumbed to the unfortunate circumstances that had befallen other countries.

President Kufuor said the government was already in consultation with its development partners to import and stock-pile additional supplies of rice and wheat to enhance food security.

In addition to on-going policies and programmes, he said, the government was stepping up attention and investments in the agricultural sector.

In that regard, he requested the management of the national afforestation programme to increase the planting of foodstuffs in the Tuonja demarcated areas around the country.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Agriculture is expected to step up the supply of tractors at subsidised rates to farmers, while the Millennium Development Authority is required to accelerate the pace of the implementation of the Millennium Account Programme in all the selected districts.

The measures, the President said, required the support of all sections of the community for their effective implementation and, therefore, appealed to the public to rally behind the government to ensure that the society went through the difficult times with minimal stress.

He indicated that the unintended consequences of the measures would be that the execution of some development projects would be affected.

However, he gave the assurance that the government would not cut back on projects such as the school feeding programme, the capitation grant, the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Metro Mass Transport, National Youth Employment Programme and the Micro-Finance and Small Loan Scheme (MASLOC) designed to protect the vulnerable in the society.

Providence, he said, had been kind to Ghana for the recent discovery of oil, which has provided the country with a bright light at the end of the tunnel.

Sounding very confident and optimistic, President Kufuor said,Dumping oil is programmed to start within the next two years. Therefore, these difficulties of today should only be temporary.

Let us therefore rally together confidently and look ahead into the future with hope and optimism,?he said.

JACK

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