Tema Port records revenue shortfall of GH¢453 million

Import revenue realized at the Tema Port fell by 45.02 percent for June 2020, Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) data has shown.

The monthly report released on July 1, 2020, indicated that for June 2020, the revenue target at the Tema Port was GH¢1 billion but the total revenue raised was only GH¢554 million. This means there was a shortfall of GH¢453million.

In a country where import revenue contributes a significant part of total government income, reducing the revenue by half, as captured by the monthly revenue performance reports compiled by the policy and programmes outfit of the Ghana Revenue Authority – Customs Division, shows an ongoing loss of vital import revenue.

Breaking down the fine details of the variance for June, the report explained that for import duty, for instance, the actual revenue target was GH¢528,480,000.00 but the actual figure collected was GH¢288,954,906.99 meaning there was a variance of GH¢-239,525,093.01.

For import VAT, the revenue target was GH¢347,740,000.00 but the actual revenue collected was GH¢190,969,135.99 meaning there was a variance of GH¢-159,770,864.01.

When it came to import NHIL, the revenue target was GH¢65,330,000.00 but the actual revenue collected was GH¢36,373,614.84 meaning there was a variance of GH¢-28,956,385.16.

And then with the GET Fund, the target was GH¢65,333,000.00 but only GH¢37,269,240.24 and the variance was GH¢-28,060,759.76.

A source within the Finance Committee of Parliament has hinted that the Committee has kept eyes on recent happenings at the country’s ports as far as revenue generation and mobilization is concerned.

He said the Committee would soon invite the GRA-Customs Division to come before it over the contradictory claims of how much revenue has been raised from the ports and whether or not the revenue targets had truly been met since the new trade facilitation system, UNIPASS-ICUMS, was deployed.