Awingobit warns of hard Christmas in December

The executive secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, Sampson Asaki Awingobit, has expressed displeasure with the government over the increment in prices at the ports.

Speaking to Citi News, Mr. Awingobit said the changes will negatively impact the prices of consumer goods in the coming days.

Describing the development as disappointing, Mr. Awingobit said: “we cannot be happy with the Government. A Government that came last week and said we are working to give the business community a flat rate at the harbor for the rest of the three months only to wake up today to these changes.”

“Yesterday, we have seen that Government have taken away the 30% December value. We have also realized that the rate at which it changes every Tuesday is maintained. We were surprised, we woke up to see that the Government have increased the rate from GHS10.70 to GHS12.537. What it means is that anybody who was having a duty yesterday to pay and could not pay, automatically will have to go back and update the current prevailing rate before you can pay,” he added.

The association says this is a clear u-turn from the government’s initial stance that it would stabilize the rates at the harbor.

Mr. Awingobit therefore warned Ghanaians to brace themselves up for a tough December where prices are expected to go up astronomically due to the bad faith displayed by the Government.

“Consumers should be prepared that there is going to be nothing like Christmas this year because the rate at which we saw the oil price went up by GHS1000 this Sunday, it will surprise you that that rate will go up again because of the rate which we are clearing at the port.”