Even though Nigeria began her implementation of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff on April 11, her West African neighbour; Ghana has fixed her own for July 2.
The Director for Multilateral, Regional and Bilateral Trade at the ministry trade and investments (MoTI), Mr Anthony Nyame-Baafi, who made this known, said Cabinet had given its approval and the Ministry of Finance would therefore table the ECOWAS treaty before Parliament in the coming weeks for ratification.
He said Parliament was likely to approve it by the end of June and MoTI had therefore put in place the necessary measures to ensure that the CET took off in July.“We have had sensitisation programmes with all the stakeholders to ensure that they adjust their systems to take care of the CET. Customs has also trained over a 1000 of their officers and they have assured us there will be no problem come July,” he stated.
He said the country’s inability to start the CET in January would not bring any implications because only eight countries had started implementing.
The common external tariff regime means that the same tariff will be slapped on an eligible item imported into the ECOWAS sub-region, irrespective of which ECOWAS-member country it lands in.
It is a vehicle to create a customs union as a complementary condition for the creation of a common market for West Africa.
Under the regime, Ghana’s four-band tariff system will expand to become five band, namely: basic essential goods; primary raw materials/capital goods; intermediate goods; final consumer goods and specified goods for economic development.
Ghana currently has 6,057 commodity lines on which it applies import duties. This will reduce to 5,899 items when the CET comes into force, an elimination of 168 commodity lines under the regional tariffs.
However, the new system will reduce the 725 commodity lines that attract zero per cent import to 85 lines, while expanding the scope of commodities admitted under the five per cent band from 375 to 2,146.
All 16 countries within the ECOWAS are expected to commence the implementation of uniform tariff on imports which was proposed to take effect from January this year. The tariff, set at 35 per cent at most, is expected to modify the rights and obligations of ECOWAS member countries under the Common External Tariff. In Nigeria, findings showed that the new tariff put at 0 per cent duty payable on goods imported under social and necessary items category, 5 per cent for raw materials, 10 per cent for intermediate goods, and 20 per cent for finished goods that are not produced locally.http://shippingposition.com.ng/article/ghana-fixes-commencement-ecowas-cet-july-2
The Director for Multilateral, Regional and Bilateral Trade at the ministry trade and investments (MoTI), Mr Anthony Nyame-Baafi, who made this known, said Cabinet had given its approval and the Ministry of Finance would therefore table the ECOWAS treaty before Parliament in the coming weeks for ratification.
He said Parliament was likely to approve it by the end of June and MoTI had therefore put in place the necessary measures to ensure that the CET took off in July.“We have had sensitisation programmes with all the stakeholders to ensure that they adjust their systems to take care of the CET. Customs has also trained over a 1000 of their officers and they have assured us there will be no problem come July,” he stated.
He said the country’s inability to start the CET in January would not bring any implications because only eight countries had started implementing.
The common external tariff regime means that the same tariff will be slapped on an eligible item imported into the ECOWAS sub-region, irrespective of which ECOWAS-member country it lands in.
It is a vehicle to create a customs union as a complementary condition for the creation of a common market for West Africa.
Under the regime, Ghana’s four-band tariff system will expand to become five band, namely: basic essential goods; primary raw materials/capital goods; intermediate goods; final consumer goods and specified goods for economic development.
Ghana currently has 6,057 commodity lines on which it applies import duties. This will reduce to 5,899 items when the CET comes into force, an elimination of 168 commodity lines under the regional tariffs.
However, the new system will reduce the 725 commodity lines that attract zero per cent import to 85 lines, while expanding the scope of commodities admitted under the five per cent band from 375 to 2,146.
All 16 countries within the ECOWAS are expected to commence the implementation of uniform tariff on imports which was proposed to take effect from January this year. The tariff, set at 35 per cent at most, is expected to modify the rights and obligations of ECOWAS member countries under the Common External Tariff. In Nigeria, findings showed that the new tariff put at 0 per cent duty payable on goods imported under social and necessary items category, 5 per cent for raw materials, 10 per cent for intermediate goods, and 20 per cent for finished goods that are not produced locally.http://shippingposition.com.ng/article/ghana-fixes-commencement-ecowas-cet-july-2
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