The Finance Minister, Hon. Ken Ofori Atta has acknowledged the Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNet) as integral to the development of the country’s trade facilitation and revenue mobilisation agenda.

He said the technology interventions deployed by GCNet has been crucial in the prevention of revenue leakages as government seeks to intensify the drive to mobilise more revenue for the implementation of key development projects.

"GCNet has been really integral to our whole issue of trade facilitation and then of course revenues at the port. We still got some long ways to go. Revenue to GDP is about 12.6% and we need to move to 19% so the interventions provided by GCNet is going to be very crucial to the way forward in terms of preventing leakages among others”, he noted.

The Finance Minister made this known when he received a cheque of Twenty Million Ghana Cedis (GHS 20,000,000.00)on behalf of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). The amount represents the second part dividend for 2018 and first part dividend for 2019.

Presenting the cheque, Mr.Emmanuel Darko, Executive Director of GCNet emphasised that the payment of dividend over the years demonstrated the company’s commitment to support the determined and persistent revenue mobilization initiatives from domestic and international trade streams.

‘It is indeed a pleasure for me to present to you GCNet’s dividend payment to Government for a component of its shareholding in GCNet, which is held by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). It is worthwhile to note in this regard that besides the GRA, there is a further Government stake in GCNet through the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) and GCB Bank, whose respective dividend payments have been made to them directly’ he said.

He reiterated GCNet’s resolve to work with Government, GRA and all stakeholders in the trade facilitation ecosystem as it deploys e-applications that deepen efforts to increase trade facilitation protocols in order to speed up clearance times.

Mr. Darko called on government to focus on Post Clearance functions of the Customs Division of the GRA as that also held the key to addressing the challenge of leakages in the revenue collection chain.

GCNet’s tax payments through various statutory vehicles, for instance, between 2016 and 2018, average GHC72 million per annum.