GRA suspends implementation of benchmark discount reversal
Producers of frytol shut down due to import of cheap oil products
Palm Oil producers urge govt to reconsider decision to suspend benchmark discount reversal
The Oil Palm Development Association of Ghana (OPDAG) has indicated that 24, 000 people in the oil palm production value chain would lose their jobs if benchmark discounts are not reversed.
At a press conference on January 14, 2022, the executive secretary of OPDAG, Selorm Quame said the association was baffled at the decision of the government to suspend the reversal of the benchmark since it would hurt local industries and worsen the unemployment challenge of Ghana.
He said so far, two major oil refineries in Ghana, Wilmar Africa and Avnash Industries have currently shut down their refineries due to the presence of cheap imports adding that very soon, companies in the plantation and oil mill subsector might suffer the same faith.
“We are baffled by what the objective of a future call for stakeholder engagement is and why an indefinite suspension of the implementation of the review at this time. We have made our case on numerous occasions over the past two years to the President, the Economic Management Team, all the relevant government agencies such as the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ministry of Finance, the Ghana International Trade Commission (GITC) among others but unfortunately the status quo has remained, “he said quoted by the online portal of the GhanaianTimes.
Selorm Quame said not reversing the benchmarks discounts was against the government programmes such as the One District One Factory and the PFJ
“Initiatives such as Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) are all that which will not thrive under this strategy that subsidises imports while maintaining stiffer conditions under which local industry must operate of which the oil pal sector of Ghana is not an exception,” the executive secretary said.
“Prices of goods we manufacture in Ghana will not see such prices as has been portrayed by the PR machinery of the importers to incite the good people of Ghana against this critical decision that faces the nation,” he further stated.
The executive secretary, therefore, urged government to immediately reconsider its decision to indefinitely suspend the implementation of the reversal of the benchmark discounts.
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