{"id":19903,"date":"2024-07-08T13:38:03","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T13:38:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=19903"},"modified":"2024-07-08T15:54:07","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T15:54:07","slug":"reduce-taxes-on-cement-to-bring-down-prices-not-an-l-i-dormaa-west-mp-tells-trade-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=19903","title":{"rendered":"Reduce taxes on cement to bring down prices, not an L.I \u2013 Dormaa West MP tells Trade Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>5 Minute, 15 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

If the government really intends to ensure a reduction in prices of cement, the actual step to take is to reduce the taxes on cement, not an introduction of a Legislative Instrument (L.I), Dormaa West Member of Parliament Vincent Oppong Asamoah, has said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He says that there are other factors affecting the prices of cement, such as the exchange rate,\u00a0 which the government can\u2019t control but with taxes, the government has absolute control over them and can decide to reduce them.<\/p>\n

To him, the strength of the Cedi is the main cause of the increase in cement prices.<\/p>\n

To that end, he said even before the Legislative Instrument (LI) to regulate cement prices came to parliament all stakeholders should have been done to identify the real cause of the problem.<\/p>\n

The Ranking member on the Committee for Works and Housing has said as important stakeholders in this, the committee was not involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe committee that regulates trade, the committee for works and housing, and even finance, committees should have been tagged before this L.I came to parliament but we didn\u2019t know anything about it. If they did any consultation then it wasn\u2019t enough,\u201d he told Kemmini Amanor on the Ho Issues on T3 Sunday, July 7.<\/p>\n

He added \u201cIf the government will be able to reduce its own taxes on cement that will be the way to go because there are certain things you can control but others you cannot. the exchange rate at the moment you can\u2019t control but at least the taxes on the cement you can control it and the moment you bring it to parliament we will pass it because we want people to have a bit of relief<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still have over 1.5m housing units that Ghanaians need so if things are not done right we will not be able to deliver to the level that Ghanaians are looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The strength of our cedi is the key cause behind the increase in cement prices \u2013 Vincent Oppong Asamoah on the legislative instrument to regulate cement prices in the country.#HotIssues<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ctyeko6oVP<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) July 8, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Apart from him, the cement producers also said they were not consulted on the L.I.<\/p>\n

But Trade Minister KT Hammond vehemently dismissed the claims by the cement producers that they were not consulted on the legislative Instrument (LI) to regulate cement prices.<\/p>\n

He described the claim as a palpable falsehood.<\/p>\n

Speaking in an interview with TV3\u2019s Beatrice Adu, KT Hammond said that the Executive Secretary of the \u00a0Cement<\/span><\/a> Manufacturers Association of Ghana (CMAG) Rev. Dr. George Dawson-Ahmoah\u00a0 \u201cactually gave me the draft, it is his handiwork.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added \u201cIt is palpable falsehood that I hadn\u2019t consulted, he consistently has been at the forefront of all the attempts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rev. Dr. George Dawson-Ahmoah, while indicating that they were not consulted also said that unfavorable economic conditions in Ghana are causing them to increase prices of cement.<\/p>\n

L.I. to regulate cement prices laid<\/a><\/p>\n\n

\u201cWhy is the Minister avoiding or just running away from this discussion? Previously, our position has been that these prices of\u00a0cement<\/span><\/a>, the increase of prices of\u00a0\u00a0cement<\/span><\/a>, it is not done in a vacuum. It is not done just because we wake up in the morning and do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is as a result of a negative trend in the economy, which is warranting such increases, and that is the issue. And like I said, what is happening now with cement prices is just because of the rapid and consistent depreciation of the cedi against the foreign currencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know anything about it. And with my common knowledge in legislative instruments, don\u2019t you involve stakeholders before it gets to Parliament? Don\u2019t you involve stakeholders in the process?\u201d he quizzed.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo cement manufacturer is happy with increasing prices. We do that because of an unfavorable economic situation,\u201d he said on the Key Points on TV3 on Saturday, June 29.<\/p>\n

Rev. Dr. George Dawson-Ahmoah further said that the rapid depreciation of the local currency has been impacting their operations, forcing them to raise the prices of cement.<\/p>\n

Clinker which is a major component of cement production, is imported hence the depreciation of the Cedi\u2019s impact on their business, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has a huge impact on the pricing of cement. There are other factors but currently this is a major concern now and that is what has motivated the Minister to rush to parliament to regulate prices. Why didn\u2019t he do it last year?\u201d He asked.<\/p>\n

Rev. Dr. George Dawson-Ahmoah had told Trade Minister K T Hammond that the increasing prices of cement can be attributed to the fall of the Cedi against the Dollar.<\/p>\n

Rev Dawson-Ahmoah said they do not need a Legislative Instrument to regulate cement prices.<\/p>\n

There must be some sanity in the system\u00a0\u2013 KT Hammond justifies L.I. to regulate cement prices<\/a><\/p>\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But KT Hammond told journalists in Parliament on Wednesday, June 26 that he had engaged them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked them to ensure that something was done about it. In my absence, I was told that the minister wasn\u2019t going to be able to do anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would not listen, they wouldn\u2019t do it, and they would go the way they want. \u201cEncouraging them to do it is a moral persuasion. If moral persuasion fails, there is a system in the country, there\u2019s a constitution, and we are preyed by a rule of law. If we don\u2019t accept the moral principle, at least some sort of economic principle, the good people of Ghana must benefit. I don\u2019t think it is fair for the way they are pricing and the way, haphazardly each one of them decides and dictates how much a bag of cement should be sold for.<\/p>\n

Cement prices: It behooves on us in authority to ensure Ghanaians aren\u2019t fleeced \u2013 Trade Minister<\/a><\/p>\n\n

\u201cThis is quite apart from the quality that they are producing. Some of the companies are producing substandard products. We have had to deal with this matter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post Reduce taxes on cement to bring down prices, not an L.I \u2013 Dormaa West MP tells Trade Minister<\/a> first appeared on 3News<\/a>.<\/p>

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If the government really intends to ensure a reduction in prices of cement, the actual step to take is to reduce the taxes on cement, not an introduction of a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"yes","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19903"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20000,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19903\/revisions\/20000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}