Tema CEPS exceeds revenue target
Tema CEPS exceeds revenue target
Tema (Greater Accra) 12 February 201
The Tema branch of the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) bagged 610 billion cedis in revenue last year, exceeding its target by 88 billion cedis in spite of a considerable drop in imports.
Tema further collected over 684 billion cedis on behalf the VAT Service and roped in over 52 billion cedis for the Inspection Agencies.
Mr. Fredua-Agyeman Boakye, Assistant Commissioner of CEPS in charge of Tema Collection, disclosed this at an annual get-together and awards ceremony for outstanding officers of the Service at Tema on Saturday.
Twelve officers were honoured for their remarkable performance last year with Mr. Yaw Boakye Agyeman of the Face Vet Seat and Mrs. Esther Amekudzi of the Detaching Seat being named as the best senior and junior officers respectively.
Two special awards were presented to Miss Monica Acquah, Public Relations Officer, and Mr Francis Adom of the Special Operations Unit for their dedication to duty.
Mr. Boakye said that, to facilitate trade as required under the Gateway Project, the WTO Agreement on valuation resulting in the abolition of the commissioner's valuation list was introduced last year.
The Destination Inspection Scheme also replaced the Pre-shipment scheme and the Customs Risk Management system, which reduced the level of physical examination, were also introduced.
Other measures introduced last year were the Scanner for scanning selected consignments, computerisation of the Warehousing Regime and decentralisation of transit/bond seats to various ports and stations.
Mr. Boakye congratulated the officers for their performance and reminded them that, with the wind of positive change blowing all over the country, they should put in collective efforts to iron out problems encountered in the past.
He also stressed the need to automate all processes and to strengthen CEPS' Post-Clearance Verification Unit to enable it to effectively monitor and evaluate the system.
Mr. Boakye said in the past the performance of CEPS had been judged mainly on import and excise duties it collected.
This trend should be reviewed to include CEPS role in the collection of Import, VAT, facilitation of transhipment trade and the numerous agencies on whose behalf CEPS performs duties, which cannot be easily quantified.
Mr. Sultan Malm, Deputy Commissioner of CEPS for Preventive, reminded CEPS personnel that the announcement that the national coffers are empty places more responsibility on the service, which collects over 50 per cent of national revenue to reduce expenditure and maximise revenue collection.
On a recent survey labelling CEPS as the second most corrupt institution in Ghana, Mr. Malm urged his men to correct this image.
They should also think of how best to pluck all loopholes and expose Custom House Agents involved in fraudulent deals so that CEPS will not be the focus of any group.
Mr. Kofi Brako, President of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF), noted that the inability of CEPS to perform professionally is adversely affecting the work of clearing agents.
He cited that, with the introduction of the Gateway Programme, a lot of junior customs officers are still not conversant with ISO 9000 concept and hoped CEPS would organise career development programmes for its officers to keep them abreast with the times.
Mr. Brako, who was the chairman for the occasion, urged CEPS to bridge the communication gap between its senior and junior officers and encourage wrongdoers to change instead of sending them home at the least offence.
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 February 2001
The All-Share Index of the Accra bourse on Friday inched up by 0.82 points to close the week at 856.82 points after dropping by a huge 3.76 points at mid-week trading.
The market index, the aggregate figure by which the price movement of all stocks on the bourse is measured, closed Wednesday at 856.00 points.
The slight increase in the index was due to the sale of 400,200 shares in Standard Chartered Bank (Stanchart), the highest priced equity. The equity withstood negative pressures that led it to register a low offer price of 19,350 cedis.
Market capitalisation went up to 3,652.84 billion cedis from 3,651.29 billion cedis.
Market volumes jumped up with shares traded reaching 408,900 from 65,900 on account of Stanchart.
Bids closed trading up at 654,400 from 209,200 while offers closed at 620,310 compared to 277,310. In the broader market, there were three price changes - all positive.
Aluworks Ghana (ALW) gained 50 cedis to finish trading at 4,950 cedis. Enterprise Insurance Company (EIC) and Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) each gained five cedis at 2,890 cedis and 1,535 cedis respectively.
The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 550
AGC 18,600
ALW ,950 +50
BAT 380
CFAO 53
EIC 2,890 +5
FML 850
GBL 1,350
GCB 1,535 +5
GGL 850
HFC 952
MGL 205
MLC 135
MOGL 18,700
PAF 255
PBC 490
PZ 400
SCB 21,500
SPPC 288
SSB 2,080
UNIL 1,600
CMLT 425
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 February 2001
The Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB) on Friday, February 9, 2001 released the following average inter bank exchange rates of the cedi equivalent to the dollar and derived rates for other major foreign currencies:
Currency Buying Selling
US Dollar 6,805.55 7,023.45
Pound Sterling 9,834.02 10,152.40
French Franc 953.25 983.23
Swiss Franc 4,076.62 4,203.19
Deutsche Mark 3,196.18 3,298.59
Canadian Dollar 4,512.47 4,652.15
Japanese Yen 58.34 60.18
Dutch Guilder 2,837.45 2,926.61
S/African Rand 849.63 875.44
Euro 6,251.36 6,451.70
CFA Franc 9.53 9.83
Naira 63.05 65.06
Ecowas/WAUA 8,916.82 -----------
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