The Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS), a trade facilitation tool, raked in GH¢ 16.08 billion in total revenue for government at the end of 2021 fiscal year, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has said.
This is against GH¢ 11.25 billion revenue generated in 2019 from the port prior to the introduction of the ICUMS system.
President Akufo-Addo disclosed this in Accra on Wednesday when he delivered the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on the floor of Parliament.
He said the increase in revenue was facilitated by the introduction of the ICUMS system and digitisation of the port operations.
“Compared to the GH¢14.36 billion generated in 2020, this marks an increase of 27.6 per cent in revenue mobilisation by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) at the nation’s sea ports on a year-on-year basis,” President Akufo-Addo said.
The increase in revenue through the ICUMs was in spite of impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on port activities in 2020 and 2021.
“Mr Speaker, I have spoken on other occasions about the digitisation of port operations or what we all now call the paperless port. I am glad to say that the initial problems have largely been overcome, and we are witnessing the advantages in faster processes at the port and less opportunities for corruption with the reduction of human interface. ICUMS, when it was introduced, provoked a lot of controversy. At the moment, we are seeing the benefits.”
“Indeed, Customs revenue, prior to the implementation of ICUMS, for the period June 2019 to May 2020, stood at GH¢11.25 billion. Between June 2020, the start of ICUMS, and May 2021, teething challenges, ill-considered propaganda and the impact of COVID-19 on global trade notwithstanding, customs revenue has increased by 27.6 per cent to GH¢14.36 billion. Indeed, customs revenue for 2021 stood at GH¢16.08 billion, as opposed to GH¢12.03 billion in 2019 when ICUMS had not been implemented,” President Akufo-Addo said.
Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Reverend Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, has indicated that ICUMS, generates for government between GH¢1.3 billion and GH¢ 1.4 billion every month.
According to him, the ICUMS had helped to block revenue leakages at the port to the tune of GH¢6 billion.
“We have seen significant increase in revenue, if you take the average revenue generated before June 2020 – before the deployment of ICUMS – it was between GH¢800 million to GH¢900 million per month, but now we are doing about GH¢ 1.3 billion to GH¢1.4 billion per month. Indicating that we are doing about GH¢ 300 million or GH¢400 million more every month and if you multiply that by 12 months, that is like GH¢6 billion in revenues for one year alone, and this was how much was being lost,” the Commissioner-General stated.
BY KINGSLEY ASAREBY KINGSLEY ASARE
