GRA to Set Up International Commodity Prices Monitoring Desk

The Ghana Revenue Authority has said that it is setting up a desk at its headquarters which is going to be dedicated to monitoring the prices of commodities on the world market.

The desk, according to the GRA, will help it reconcile prices of gold and other commodities reported by local producers and exporters.

“We want a situation where the pricing mechanisms that are applied by the industry are as real as possible, and that the industry knows the GRA is very up to date with the pricing mechanism on the international market”.

Mr. Emmanuel Kofi Nti, the Commissioner General for the Ghana Revenue Authority made this known to Citi News after a tour of some mining companies in the Western Region.

Mr. Nti further explained that for the GRA to recoup the right taxes that ought to go to the state, greater revenue reporting transparency is one sure way to realize it.

He mentioned that “in this work that we are doing, there are related party transactions, and so there are issues where items might have been sold may not have been sold at arm’s length; and so as we deal with them and they know we are closely monitoring the environment”.

“This will bring greater transparency, and when they report, we can understand. There wouldn’t be any need for us to be arguing and creating issues; but that we are certain that the industry will be fair to us, as we are also to them”. Mr. Nti added

He discounted the existence of mistrust between the people in charge of tax administration and the mining companies, but said the move was to ensure the GRA is clear about what the companies were reporting.

He concluded that “there have been times where the companies are reporting correctly, but in our minds, we are not still agreeing. Those things will come to an end with this desk. We are just after transparency”.