The Ghana Plastic Manufacturers’ Association(GPMA) has called on the government to immediately suspend the newly imposed 5 per cent exercise tax on all locally manufactured plastic products, as members are currently facing high production costs.
According to them, about 92 per cent of industries and businesses rely heavily on plastic packaging and plastic products, which the tax would inevitably cause a widespread increase in consumer prices.
During a press conference held in Accra yesterday, Mr Ebbo Botwe, the President of the Association, emphasised that the tax would have an impact on various items such as plastic chairs and tables, data pipes, water tanks, ice chests, conduit pipes, electrical fittings, jerrycans, and other products.
This, he said, would create obstacles for the local manufacturing industry to effectively compete with imported goods.
“Indeed, for the current total plastic manufacture we do in Ghana, these aforementioned products and so many other products which we call flexible plastic, just make about 21 percent of our total production.
About 79 per cent of production goes into rigid plastics. This is a perception which has gone on for a long time, such that, at the mention of plastic, it’s all about shopping bags and pure water sachet, which is a wrong notion which needs to be corrected henceforth,” hehighlighted.
Mr Botwe said that surprisinglythe Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) which collects tax on behalf of the government did not inform the Association before its implementation, stressing that such behaviour does not favour the business communities.
He further said that considering the challenges confronting the Association, two plastic manufacturers were currently running simulation projects in Togo to consider a potential relocation of their production to Togo and export the finished product to Ghana.
“Already at December 31, 2023, the 10 per cent Environmental Excise tax has accrued more than GH¢1.976 billion since its inception in 2011. All this money is supposed to be in the Consolidated Fund to tackle waste, but to the best of our knowledge, not even a single pesewa has been disbursed, so where from this new tax to burden our plight,” MrBotwelamented.
“Already some manufacturing companies have suspended production and put workers on wholesale leave due to the high foreign exchange rates, the high benchmark values and high opening overhead costs.
So, after deeper consultation with our partners such as the National Association of Sachet and Packaged Water Producers, Ghana Union of Traders Association, Association of Ghana Industries and Food and Beverage of Ghana, we urged the government to suspend the 5 per cent excise tax,” Mr Botwe said.
BY BERNARD BENGHAN.