There may soon be a decrease in the supply of necessities packaged in plastic for consumers all around the nation, such as bottled and sachet water.
This comes after the government was given a stern ultimatum by the Ghana Plastic Manufacturers Association, which represents the local industry, demanding the immediate removal of a recently implemented 5% excise tax on plastic products made in the country.
According to the Association, manufacturers are willing to vent their dissatisfaction by stopping production for seven days if their demands are not fulfilled.
Ebbo Botwe, the president of the Ghana Plastic Manufacturers Association, called for renewed engagement with all stakeholders during a press conference, emphasizing the urgency for the government to reconsider its position in order to prevent any potential economic fallout from the planned production shutdown.
“We are appealing to the vice president, Dr Mahamudu Bawumuia to intervene in this matter because the effect of this consumer tax will really affect the masses, the common man, the common woman will suffer extreme hardship.
“In conclusion, we ask GRA to stop the harassment of plastic manufacturers and we give the Ministry of Finance one week to respond to our request or we shall have no option but for all plastic manufacturers to shut down production for at least one week and of course, we’ll send home over 30,00 workers.
Dr. Joseph Obeng, the president of the Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (GUTA), for his part, made a strong case for coming up with creative ways to pay taxes rather than burdening regional businesses.
“The government is being insensitive to the business community. Let’s defer the implementation of the excise tax. The time is not right and it’s not fair around this time where businesses are suffering from the effects of exchange rates and we are very much aware of this.
“This is not the time to impose another tax when so many taxes have already been imposed on us, are we saying we do not care about the state of businesses?”
