Ghana has started to benefit from the Ghana National Single Window (GNSW) project following the successful implementation of the Pre-Arrival Assessment Reporting System (PAARS).
Senior officials the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), and West Blue Consulting disclosed this at a day’s orientation workshop for members of the Journalists for Business Advocacy (JBA) in Accra.
West Blue Consulting, the technical partner of the GNSW project contracted by the Government of Ghana to run the five year project developed the PAARS last year.
The PAARS, according to the senior officials is a modernized system that has been developed by the Customs Division of GRA as part of the implementation of the GNSW project to enhance revenue mobilization, improve border security and customs clearance, overcome duplication across regulatory agencies and promote trade facilitation.
A Senior Revenue Officer, Customs Division of GRA, Albert Akurugu added that the as first phase of the GNSW project, the PAARS began in September 2015, while additional elements including the tariff calculator are also in operations.
The improvements introduced by the PAARS system are already having a dramatic impact on the time required to do business and the other elements of the programme such as Integrated Risks Assessment, IDF, and e-letter of credit, will have similar strong effects.
Revenues go up
Mr Akurugu revealed that the successful implementation of the PAARS has increased revenue generation at the Tema and Takoradi ports.
According to him, revenue mobilised by Customs Division of GRA in 2015 increased by 1.66 per cent as a result of the implementation of the PAARS.
“Our revenue target for 2015 was GH¢8036.23 million and we realized GH¢8169.55 million which is remarkable,” Mr Akurugu told the journalists.
He indicated that before the implementation of the PAARS, the Customs Division of GRA hardly achieved its target, stating that “revenue target for 2014 was GH¢7010.32 million and we were able to collect GH¢6865.20 million and in 2013 revenue target was 5993.42 million and we collected GH¢5372.42 million.”
Mr Akurugu emphasised that after some months of the implementation of the trade facilitation system, it has reduced the cost of doing business at the ports.
GNSW’s PAARS reduces cost and time at the ports
Since the introduction of the GNSW’s PAARS last year, traders are able to access Customs Classification and Valuation Report (CCVR) within 48 hours, he revealed.
In some cases, within an hour that is substantial improvement from the previous situation whereby it used to take traders more than a week or two weeks just to get their CCVR, the Senior Revenue Officer, Customs Division of GRA stressed.
Mr Akurugu was quick to add the system has brought some efficiency at the ports, reduced time, reduced corruption, and cost of doing business.
The Customs Division of GRA took over the processing of the CCRV from the destination companies in September last year. The CCRV replaced the destination inspection report also known as the Final Classification and Valuation Report (FCVR). In spite of the successes chalked so far through the implementation of the PAARS, he said there was still more room for improvement.
How GNSW will be financed
Touching on the financing of the GNSW, the Chief Executive Officer of West Blue Consulting, Madam Valentina Mintah stated: “The Ghana National Single Window will be financed out of the existing 1 per cent fee on imports and exports”.
“There will be no additional fees or costs to use the system”, she added.
Ghana ranked 171 in this year’s World Bank’s ‘Trading Across Borders Rankings’ report on the cost and time of administrating procedures and processes for importing and exporting.
Reducing these factors (time and cost) is exactly what the Ghana National Single Window project is designed to address, the Chief Executive Officer of West Blue Consulting, Madam Valentina Mintah noted in her welcome address.
Based on the experience of the Single Window implementations in other countries, West Blue estimated that the GNSW project would reduce the cost and time of international trade (import, export and transit) in Ghana by 50 per cent and 25 per cent respectively over the next five years.
Economic benefits of GNSW
This, Madam Mintah explained would have a huge impact on the international competitiveness of Ghanaian business and should other things being equal, result in a strong growth in the country’s international trade performance.
It will also significantly increase the global ranking of Ghana in the World Bank’s ‘Trading Across Borders Report’ from the rank of 171 in 2016 to 121 by 2021. Similarly, the ranking within the Sub-Saharan African regions could increase from 36 to 16, if all things being equal, she stated.
Presenting an overview of the Ghana National Single Window System, Aminu Uthman Oluwatoni, Manager Project Delivery at the West Blue Consulting added that another potential benefit of the GNSW is the likely positive impact on the country’s foreign direct investment prospects.
“Trade efficiency is a key determinant of investment decisions by international business and the positioning of Ghana as a trade efficient and trade friendly country will greatly enhance its attractiveness to such investors”.
Furthermore, Mr Oluwatoni believes that the GNSW is expected boost economic growth of the country, adding that the Single Window would enhance institutional and nation building, improved and effective collection of government revenues, simpler, faster processes for clearance and release, reduced costs of compliance, reduced corruption, reduction in bureaucratic processes, among others.
Background
Instructively, the GNSW project was initiated on 1st September 2015 by the Government of Ghana to enhance the country’s trade and economic development and secure and increase government revenue. It was officially launched in 1st December, 2015.
Indeed, the Single Window concept was developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in 2005 as an effort to simplify, harmonise and standardise international trade procedures and associated information flows between trade and government and within government itself.
UNECE, through its UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT), defined Single Window as “a facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardised information and documents with a single entry point to fulfil all import, export, and transit-related regulatory requirements. If information is electronic, then individual data elements should only be submitted once”.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report