Data from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) shows the total revenues generated by the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) for the authority amounted to GH₵10.5 billion between June and December 12, 2020.
This includes some GH₵7.6 billion for the Customs Division of the GRA from import and export of goods into and out of Ghana.
The rest constitutes revenues generated by Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) of the GRA, raising some GH₵2.7 billion and non-GRA revenues, which is also hovering around a little over GH₵140 million.
According to GRA, the previous vendors were generating a monthly average amount of GH₵940 million.
However, apart from June 2020, when revenue generated through ICUMS dropped by almost four per cent below what was generated same period in 2019 due to the challenges which dogged the deployment at Tema, the current data has seen an upward trend.
Comparing year-on-year figures, the previous vendors generated duty payments of GH₵949 million for July 2019 as against the GH₵1.1 billion ICUMS generated for July 2020.
The increase in percentage terms hovers around 23%.
In August 2020, the percentage increase was around 32%, because ICUMS generated duty payment of some GH₵1.2 billion while the previous vendors raised some GH₵952 million in August 2019.
In September 2020, ICUMS generated above GH₵1.2 billion representing some 35% increase, compared to the GH₵920 million generated in the same period in 2019.
From the data, November 2019 was the best performance of the previous vendors where they raised a little over GH₵1 billion, but again they were outperformed by ICUMS, which has generated GH₵GHc1.2 billion, representing 26% increase.
In October 2020, ICUMS raised GH₵1.3 billion in revenues higher than the GH₵980 million generated for the government in the same period last year.
Change of old vendors
The ICUMS is an e-Customs system which provides swift customs clearance, increases government revenue, connects various government and private entities to facilitate cross-border trade, and ultimately contributes to the economic development.
The system is divided into five main components: Customs Business, Integrated Risk Management, Single Window, IT Management, and Customs Administration.
The ICUMS was first deployed at the various frontiers in March 2020 following successfully pilot at Aflao and Elubo in February.
In April, Takoradi, having undergone simulations and stress test, took off.
Then finally Ghana’s biggest port, in terms of size and ability to accept cargo volumes was hooked onto the ICUMS system on June 1, 2020.
Last week, the Assistant Commissioner of Customs in charge of the Accra Sector Command who is also the ICUMS implementation Committee Chairman, Mr. Emmanuel Ohene, in interviews with the media hailed the success of New System which is significantly transforming trade facilitation.
The success of the system, according to him, includes elimination of the multiple routes prior to payment of duties, seamless processes, increasing revenue, speedy processing of pre-manifest declaration, and undertaking classification and valuation in the same system, among others.
Mr. Ohene told the media that after successful implementation of the phase one of the ICUMS, the second phase would be rolled-out by the first quarter of 2021.
While admitting to some genuine complaints of the trading public regarding the new system, he pointed out that the ICUMS is significantly progressive with regard to trade facilitation in Ghana.
He, therefore, encouraged users of the system to be hopeful as the introduction of the second phase would see the few challenges fixed, as well as many added innovations
Change of Old Vendors
The decision to discontinue with the services of GCNet and other service providers by the Government of Ghana (GOG) was informed by the need to replace the multiplicity of vendors with a single service provider deploying an end-to-end system that will effectively check or limit if not stop the rising cost of doing business at the port, reduce time taken for goods clearance at the ports for all stakeholders as well as block what the government has identified as huge leakage in revenue mobilization, not only at the ports but domestically.
Source: Mypublisher24.com