Ghana’s non-public business creation is suffering beneath what professionals describe as an “unsustainable tariff regime” that would push the market system towards stagnation and conceivable cross-border company retaliation if pressing reforms don’t seem to be made.

In an in depth coverage research titled “Before the Fall: How Ghana’s Tariff Madness Could Bankrupt the Economy,” Dr. Leonard Larbi warns that Ghana’s complicated and overlapping device of import tasks, levies, and administrative charges is choking firm entrepreneurship, using inflation, and weakening the rustic’s competitiveness.

A Perfect Storm of Taxes and Interest

According to Dr. Larbi, Ghanaian companies face “a suffocating stack of fees on the port” along double-digit rates of interest that make borrowing and entrepreneur just about unimaginable. The blended impact, he argues, is upper client costs, stifled business environment, and mounting unemployment.

“Entrepreneurs don’t seem to be requesting handouts,” Dr. Larbi notes. “They’re requesting oxygen.”

He proposes capping import price lists between 5% and 10%, scrapping redundant levies, and making sure rates of interest fall consistent with Ghana’s declining inflation, which lately dropped to 9.4% — the bottom since 2021.

The Hidden Cost Behind Every Import

While legit import tasks are marketed at 10–20%, Dr. Larbi’s research finds that further taxes and charges considerably building up the actual price of imports.These come with the 15% VAT, 2.5% NHIL, 2.5% GETFund levy, 1% COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy, ECOWAS levy (0.5%), AU levy (0.2%), and ICUMS and processing charges of as much as 1%.

“When blended, those fees can push the full tax burden to 50–100% of the landed price,” he explains. “This is a competitiveness killer for small buyers and native producers.”

Constitutional Questions Over Some Levies

The file additional raises prison considerations, suggesting that portions of Ghana’s import taxation device might violate Article 174 of the 1992 Constitution, which calls for all taxes to be licensed by means of an Act of Parliament.

While tasks such because the Import VAT, NHIL, and ECOWAS levies are legally subsidized, others — together with the ICUMS price, disinfection charges, and customs processing fees — lack transparent legislative authority.

“These fees quantity to double taxation,” Dr. Larbi argues. “Import responsibility itself is already a tax. Layering a couple of levies at the identical price base distorts costs, fuels inflation, and undermines the guideline of legislation.”

Economic Consequences and Global Risks

The research warns that Ghana’s opaque tariff and valuation practices may just disclose the rustic to sanctions beneath World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations.If primary buying and selling companions retaliate by means of enforcing price lists on Ghana’s key exports — cocoa, gold, and agricultural items — the industrial penalties might be devastating.

“A 20–30% tariff on Ghana’s cocoa exports may just erase masses of tens of millions in progress and devastate rural livelihoods,” the file notes. “Ghana can not have the funds for a company conflict it can not win.”

The Cost of High Interest Rates

Although inflation has fallen, lending charges stay prime — between 20% and 30% in observe. Dr. Larbi stresses that decrease inflation should translate into inexpensive credit score if companies are to thrive.

“With inflation down, it’s time for rates of interest to apply,” he says. “Otherwise, marketers will proceed to fight to restock, rent, or make investments.”

A Blueprint for Reform

To avert an financial disaster, the creator proposes a seven-point reform business creation:

1.        Cap all price lists and tasks at 5–10%.

2.        Eliminate non-statutory levies comparable to ICUMS and disinfection charges.

3.        Make VAT, NHIL, and GETFund non-cascading.

4.        Publish clear valuation knowledge.

5.        Align rates of interest with inflation.

6.        Audit all company taxes for WTO compliance.

7.        Promote value-added exports to beef up the cedi.

A Call for Urgent Action

Dr. Larbi cautions that with out fast reform, Ghana faces a “ticking time bomb” of inflation, unemployment, and attainable default.

But if the federal government acts unexpectedly — simplifying price lists, reducing borrowing prices, and bettering transparency — the country may just stabilize its market system and repair investor self belief.

“This isn’t ideology,” he concludes. “It’s survival.”

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by means of Readers and Contributors in this platform don’t essentially constitute the perspectives or coverage of Multimedia Group Limited.

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by means of Readers and Contributors in this platform don’t essentially constitute the perspectives or coverage of Multimedia Group Limited.