The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, has stated that though excessive tax leads to tax evasion and collapse of industries, the government has no intention of reducing taxes paid by industries and individuals in the country.

He said Cabinet of which he is a member, is even considering the possibility of increasing taxes to generate more revenue to correct the imbalances in the economy, which they inherited from the previous NDC government.

Dr Apraku who was speaking at the launch of the golden jubilee celebration of the British-America Tobacco (BAT) in Takoradi, last Friday, said not quite a long time ago, they were even running the economy at a deficit of 15 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Therefore the government is to heed to the call by industries to reduce the excise duty, it may end up collapsing the economy.

The minister’s comment was in reaction to earlier appeals made by Jimmy Idum-Ogede, the managing director of BAT. Ogede appealed to the government through the minister to reduce the excise duty which is 140 per cent of ex-factory price, as it puts the company at great disadvantage when compared with rates in neighbouring countries which range from 8 to 30 per cent.

Dr Apraku, however, assured BAT and other companies in the country that his ministry is prepared to help them to add value to their products in order to give them and government more revenue when the goods are finally exported.

In furtherance of this policy, Dr Apraku said the NPP government would soon be passing law to mandate all industries to use local raw materials where it is available for their production and stop the excessive importation which only brings pressure to bear on the economy.

The minister noted that the soft drinks industry for example, imports a large volume of sugar to support their production but if there were laws mandating them to use local raw materials, they would be compelled to go into the production of sugar locally.

Dr Apraku said it is an undeniable fact that companies in the country are facing a number of problems which include over liberalisation of the economy, inadequate working capital and poor-worker management relations. He however, commended BAT for being able to overcome all these setbacks for the past 50 years to the extent of contributing ?14bn every month to government domestic revenue.

The managing director, Idun-Ogde used the occasion to announce the provision of ?100m as seed money for the establishment of an educational endowment fund to be known as Western Regional Education Trust Fund.