Customs To Beef Up System In Readiness

The Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) has said it is ready to make a seamless migration from the old currency to the new Ghana cedi without problems.

The Takoradi Sector Commander of CEPS, Mr Anthony Kodzo Sewor, said the Ghana Community Network (GCNet), an electronic clearing processing platform, is expected to install a software on June 1, 2007 at the front ends of all clearing agents, to automatically convert the amount from the old currency to the new Ghana Cedi.

“If we are not able to use the correct conversion rates, we will over-collect or under-collect revenue which will not favour the one paying and the collecting agency,” Mr Sewor said at a workshop for CEPS officials in Takoradi.

He said the software would be activated by midnight of June 30, this year.

He said the software would help CEPS by making the conversion faster to ensure accuracy and efficiency during the periods preceding and coming after the re-denomination exercise.

The sector commander said as the collector of about 55 per cent of all direct taxes for the country, an intensive education for CEPS officials on the application and the conversion from old to the new currency was necessary.

“If we fail, the effects of under-collection and over-collection will be disastrous for the country,” he said.

Mr Sewor said all stakeholders, particularly the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF), would be involved to prevent any confusion during the implementation.

The Deputy Head, Issue Unit of the Bank of Ghana, Mr Emmanuel Bannerman, took the officials through the advantages of the re-denomination exercise.

Story by Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu