.....AGAINST GHANA’S INTEREST
In mid-March when a Ghanaian delegation travelled to Greece to attend a World Bank conference, the President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn warned Ghana’s delegation led by Senior Minister, J.H. Mensah, to scrap the higher import duties tamped on poultry and rice in the budget announced earlier.

“Statesman” can authoritatively reveal that government has finally lifted the increase in duty slammed on the importation of poultry equipments, feeds and additives in the 2003 budget in difference to pressure from the World Bank and the IMF. This was confirmed by a top official of CEPS who spoke on condition of anonymity, in an interview with the paper.

It would be recalled that the government in its 2003 budget dubbed “Import Substitution budget” by the paper in its Tuesday February, 28, 2003 edition increased the import duties on poultry by 20% and the duty on rice also shot up by 5%.