Tamale, August 18, GNA – The Northern Regional branch of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) has engaged some exporters in the region on Letters of Commitment (LOC) to enhance repatriation of export proceeds in the country.
The day’s engagement, organised in collaboration with the Bank of Ghana, was to sensitise exporters to appreciate the new regime of the LOC and how they collectively contributed to ensure sanity in the sector.
Mr Isaac Tersiah Ackwerh, Northern Regional Manager of GSA, speaking during the event in Tamale, said “following the implementation of the LOC for the repatriation of export proceeds in 2016, it has not been without challenges, hence the need to create the platform to adopt the needed mechanisms that will help address the challenges.”
He said, “engagement with various exporters revealed incidences of inadequate time allocated for the repatriation of export proceeds, delays in accessing repatriated proceeds from commercial banks, low exchange rate offered by the banks and the instability of the current form of the LOC for the small-scale cross border trade, amongst others, thus the need to create the platform to address them.”
He said, “this partnership will not only boost awareness creation on the LOC but will also help educate exporters on the procedures involved, promote compliance, as well as identify challenges associated with the implementation.”
Mr Eric Kweku Hammond, Deputy Director, Department of Banking of the Bank of Ghana said the engagement was necessary and would address some of the misconceptions and challenges associated with the initiative.
He urged members to support and comply with the initiative to guarantee safety and sanity in the industry.
Mr Husein Alhassan, Northern Regional Chairman of the Shippers’ Committee commended the GSA and partners for the engagement saying it had helped to address some of the challenges confronting members.
He called on the government and other stakeholders to support exporters to mitigate the challenges COVID-19 pandemic had brought to bear on their businesses.
