Prime News Ghana

Ghana loses over GHC4m to fuel smuggling

By Justice Kofi Bimpeh
ghana_duncan_amoah
Executive Secretary of COPEC-Ghana, Duncan Amoah
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Over GHC4 million worth of revenue has been lost to fuel smuggling in 2018, that’s according to a research by the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers, COPEC-Ghana.

COPEC-Ghana said the revenue loss may increase if measures are not taken to avert the situation.

Executive Secretary of COPEC-Ghana, Duncan Amoah said a lot of people are using the back end to purchase fuel on to the market.

“Our checks for the current year indicate that the illegal operators are currently doing almost 22% of the market, what it means is that you may be buying fuel at regular pricing but people are able to go through the back end and get the fuel on to the market without paying taxes to the government.”

He called on the Ghana Revenue Authority, GRA, to step up their revenue monitoring systems to be able to generate the needed revenue for the country and also clamp down on fuel smuggling.

Read also: We are not responsible for the 2018 revenue shortfall: GPHA to GRA

“These are not the sort of things we want to hear in 2019, GRA will need to step up to know how much fuel really gets into the country and how much is sold at what point.”

“Tracking system seems not to be working at all and illegal trade is still pervasive,” he added.

Revenue generation is still a problem in the country as reports also indicate that the Customs Division of GRA has also lost over GHC2 billion in 2018 due to illegal activities at the port.

 Read also: GRA blames illegal port activities for the shortfall in 2018 revenue target

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