The flagbearer of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo has promised to reduce corporate tax to 15% for manufacturing industries to boost that sector of the economy, if elected as President of the Republic in December 2008.

“My government will address the multiplicity of tax and tariffs regime to support industry by working with the business community to introduce appropriate reforms to consolidate and reduce the tax burden on businesses” Akufo-Addo said in reference to the tax regime inherited by the ruling Kufuor administration from its predecessor Rawlings PNDC/NDC administrations.

He said a New Tariff Advisory Board (NTAB) would be used as a vehicle for the review, adding that it would review “on an urgent basis, the scope, attitude and culture of Custom Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), in order to make it more effective, transparent and business friendly in its operations.”

The flagbearer made this promise at a meeting with the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) in Accra last Friday.

At the meeting, he presented new initiatives which would help address some of the challenges confronting industry.

According to him, combating unfair trade practices would be addressed by enforcing administrative regulatory measures, together with vigorous policing of the country’s borders to reduce smuggling.

“We would use aggressive efforts, consistently with applicable WTO rules, to protect our industries against dumping and other unfair practices” he noted, adding “with this belief, we shall work with you to pass the Industrial Development and Competitiveness Bill which you have developed.”

Nana Addo Dankwah added that to make this more effective, additional resources and personnel from the Ghana Standards Board and the Food and Drugs Board will help protect the health and safety of consumers, as well as shield local industries from unfair competition from outside.

“For example, lacklustre enforcements of standards that permit dumping of sub-standard aluminium sheets onto our markets harm the public and weaken our industries. This must cease,” he stressed.

Nana Addo Dankwah emphasized that his government would strengthen the National Board on Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) to provide them with technical assistance.

“However indirect costs would also be addressed through the introduction of measures to reduce business approval processes to less than 5 days for new business applications and to reduce corruption by accelerating the e-government project,” he noted.

Other solutions to indirect costs, he said, would be the introduction of necessary changes in the public procurement laws and regulations that would commit all ministries, departments and agencies to use at least half of the goods and services which is provided by local organizations.

This, he said, will make available to local manufacturers, a large ready-made market that will drive productivity, reduction of delays in payment to business for goods and services supplied to government by private business and government will be required to pay interest on outstanding balances after 90 days.

“Therefore there is the need to reform the legal administrative and regulatory environment by completing the process of developing, passing and enforcing the Standards Bill, implementing the Consumer Protection Policy, complete the revision of the companies’ code to introduce international best practices to the country’s business environment and modernizing the investment code and decentralizing its administration.” Nana Akufo-Addo emphasized.

According to him, the current worldwide food shortages and resultant increase in prices have underlined the need for food security for the country.

“We must add as much value as possible to our primary products,” he suggested as one of the means to deal with the global food crisis.

“It is against this background that we shall have food security and add value to our agricultural products by increasing productivity through the provision of irrigation, higher-yielding seeds, storage facilities and road network” he stressed.

He revealed that the establishment of agro-based industries in each of the regions based on the local strengths, would help achieve the goal of making the country self-sufficient, adding that this will enable the country add value to her agricultural products.