The increase in inflation rate to 37.2% in September from 33.9% in August, and the call on the government by some traders in Kumasi to adopt more sustainable and business-friendly tax policies that would help the government to optimise its revenue mobilisation while promoting business growth are some of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that inflation in Ghana increased to 37.2% in September from 33.9% in August, the Ghana Statistical Service said on Wednesday.
According to the Government Statistician Samuel Kobina Annim, the Service has shifted its reference year to 2021, from 2018, and will update historical figures.
The GSS has also adjusted the weights of regions and increased the number to cover 16 regions.
This means that in the month of September 2022 the general price level was 37.2% higher than in September 2021. The month-on-month inflation between August 2022 and September 2022 was 2.0%.
According to the GSS, five groups recorded inflation rates higher than the national average in September. They were Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other fuels (68.8%); Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance (51.1%); Transport (48.6%); Personal Care, Social Protection and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (42.6%) as well as Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (37.8%).
The newspaper says that some traders in Kumasi have called on the government to adopt more sustainable and business-friendly tax policies that would help the government to optimise its revenue mobilisation while promoting business growth.
According to them, the current Value Added Tax (VAT) policy being implemented by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) “does not support our system.”
“The tax structure and its administration do not support the features of our market. The policy introduced taxation for each item as it travels along the distribution channel,” the Executive Secretary of the Ashanti Business Community, Charles Kusi Appiah-Kubi said at a media briefing in Kumasi today (October 12, 2022).
He said the current system where the tax was applied to every single item along the distribution line was making the cost of items more expensive and beyond the reach of customers.
Mr Appiah-Kubi proposed that the government should collect all tax at the point of entry of the goods into the country and allow those in the value chain to operate free of intimidation and harassment.
He said the current practice where the same item was charged from the key distributor down to the last consumer, was overburdening the consumer and making goods more expensive.
He said the tax should be collected just once at the point of entry, either at the ports or at the factories, thereby allowing the businesses to operate freely.
“Government should take all its revenue from the points of entry. Take all the charges you want to charge at the point of entry or at the manufacturing and leave us alone,” he said.
“We are ready to pay our corporate income tax and our Pay As You Earn (PAYE), but we can’t pay the VAT again,” he said.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the 6th African Congress of the International Radiation Protection Association (AFRIRPA) is underway in Accra.
The 4-day programme is being organised on the theme “Embracing radiation protection and safety culture.”
The conference is being attended by over 150 participants including radiation experts, researchers, scientists, academia, policy makers and civil society organisations from Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroun, Angola, Sudan, Burkina Faso, and Cote d’ Ivoire.
It also has representatives from Germany, Hungary and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
It is being organised by the Ghana Association for Radiation Protection (GARP) in collaboration with the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA) IAEA, and World Health Organisation (WHO), The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).
Topics to be discussed include, radiation protection education and safety culture, training of skilled professionals and optimisation of doses to workers, public and patients sensitisation strategies, oral and poster presentations in different areas of radiation protection as well as special sessions on non-Ionizing radiation, and natural occurring radioactive material (NORM).
The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Kwaku Afriyie, commended the organisers for unionising radiation protection and assured of government’s commitment to further deepen cooperation, ensuring that technologies were developed for the socio-economic transformation that would protect the environment and lives from the harmful effects of these cutting-edge technologies.
He said since the IRPA promoted the worldwide enhancement of professional competence radiation protection culture they must be supported to provide the benchmarks of good practice by encouraging the application of the highest standards of professional conduct, skills and knowledge for the benefit of individuals and society.
The minister charged the conference to help strengthen their position as a member of IRPA towards making public health a priority not only in Ghana, but other parts of the world.
Dr Peter Johnson on behalf of the IAEA said the applications of radiation offered enormous benefits in many areas of our lives including medicine, industry education and science, as such every care must be taken to ensure that the use of radioactive materials posed no undue hazard to the public or the environment.
He indicated that radiation safety was primarily the responsibility of individual states because radiation accidents could be harmful to human health, the environment and could also undermine public confidence in applications of radiation for peaceful purposes.
The newspaper says that the Energy Commission is set to promote efficient energy use at various district assemblies, ministries, departments and agencies in the country, Executive Secretary, Mr Oscar Amonoo-Neizer, has indicated.
He explained that, the move was part of the commission’s mandate to lead energy efficiency awareness creation and implementation, through regulations and standards, in a bid to ensure the efficient utilisation of energy resources in Ghana.
“Our work in energy efficiency over the years speaks to our commitment to promoting Ghana’s energy transition through efficient utilisation of electricity,” Mr Amonoo- Neizer.
He said these at a training programme for energy managers in Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and hotels in Takoradi, yesterday.
With supports from United Nations Development Programme, the training was to help participants control their electricity bills, electricity consumption and also improve energy efficiency at their places.
Mr Amonoo-Niezer told participants that the recommendations of a validation committee established in 2019 under the auspices of the Energy Sector Recovery Programme, to validate all MDAs and electricity billings post-payment of assemblies, included the development of a mechanism for monitoring the efficient use of electricity.
It also wrote about the implementation of an energy efficiency training programme to promote the prudent use of electricity and thereby reduce electricity costs in all MDAs and MMDAs.
According to Mr Amonoo-Neizer, the study conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service in collaboration with UNDP and the World Bank in 2020, found that, MSMEs and other businesses, were found to have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Therefore, there was the need to build resilience against numerous setbacks,” he added.
“Hotels (hoteliers) for example spend approximately 60 -70 percent of their operating costs on energy and resources and hence need assistance in adopting best practices with energy and resource use to reduce costs, increase revenue generation, and the capacity to withstand future challenges,” he noted.
Mr Amonoo-Neizer said the Commission together with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sought support from the UNDP to carry out energy and resource efficiency and conservation training for MMDAs and MSMEs in six identified regions.
GIK/APA