{"id":109276,"date":"2025-08-25T16:49:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T16:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/109276\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T16:49:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T16:49:11","slug":"how-the-cedis-strength-cost-the-gra-nearly-a-third-of-its-revenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/109276\/","title":{"rendered":"How the cedi’s strength cost the GRA nearly a third of its revenue"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Anthony <\/a>Anthony Kwasi Sarpong is GRA’s Commisioner-General<\/p>\n

The Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority<\/a> (GRA), Anthony Kwasi Sarpong, has revealed that the authority lost about 30% of its revenue this year due to the sharp appreciation of the cedi.<\/p>\n

According to him, duties at the ports are mostly denominated in dollars; therefore, the exchange rate\u2019s fall from almost GH\u00a216 to around GH\u00a210 resulted in a revenue shortfall of about 30%.<\/p>\n

Importers can pay duties online weeks before goods arrive \u2013 GRA<\/a><\/p>\n

While noting that the cedi\u2019s appreciation is generally positive for the economy, he explained that the last three months have negatively affected revenue collection.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at duties at the port, they are denominated in foreign currency, mostly in USD. Therefore, once the exchange rate, which is overall good for the economy, dropped from 15 to about 10.5, that\u2019s a 30% sharp drop in cedi terms. So obviously, within three months, what comes to you drops by 30%,\u201d he said, as quoted by myjoyonline.com.<\/p>\n

Cedi recovers marginally, now at GH\u00a210.90 to the dollar<\/a><\/p>\n

The Commissioner-General was, however, quick to add that the GRA is optimistic that a continued appreciation of the currency will make imports cheaper, thereby increasing volumes and boosting port revenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident that because the rates are lower, importers can bring in more goods. First, the amount of dollars they need is smaller since they are using fewer cedis to get the same dollars, so they can import more.<\/p>\n

Second, when it comes to duties, the amount of cedis required is also lower. We believe that within three months, as existing stock is exhausted and businesses restock, imports will increase, and we will regain the taxes from there,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Sarpong further noted that revenues from the extractive industries and the upstream petroleum sector have also dipped, affecting overall tax inflows.<\/p>\n

But he stressed, \u201cOnce you lose 30% from the exchange rate point of view, you are immediately hit with a 30% drop in cedi terms. But again, that is a short-term situation. We believe that once the value stabilises, companies will be able to reduce their costs. Through that, other taxes, such as corporate income tax, will rise, which will help compensate.\u201d<\/p>\n

SSD\/MA<\/p>\n

GhanaWeb’s latest documentary, Sex for Fish, that explores the plights of teenage girls in coastal communities, all in an attempt to survive, is out. Watch it below:<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Kwasi Sarpong is GRA’s Commisioner-General The Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Anthony Kwasi Sarpong, has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-109276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}