Gov't will shore-up local paper industry- Ayariga

Daily Graphic (Spread), Thurs, May 6/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry,Mr Mahama Ayariga, has said that the government will tackle policies which place the local printing industry at a disadvantage.
He said the current regime exempted tax on all imported books whereas local printers paid about 32 per cent of taxes on inputs, a situation which he said had the tendency to cripple the local industry if not checked.
Mr Ayariga said this when he paid a working visit to the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) to acquaint himself with the operations of the company.
The Deputy Minister’s visit, which took him to other printing houses in Accra, was at the instance of the Ghana Printers and Paper Converters Association, and it was to give him first hand information about some of the problems that hinder the smooth operations of the local printing industry in the country.
He said the government would pursue policies that would help local industries to grow, saying that it would ensure that the country had a vibrant printing local industry.
Mr Ayariga said the government’s policy of printing at least 60 per cent of all textbooks under the Free Compulsory Basic Education (FCUBE) programme was to ensure that local printers who won the bid for such jobs them locally to benefit the country as a whole.
He, however, bemoaned the fact that although the government had good intentions for the industry, some people who won the bid to print under the FCUBE textbook programme still printed their books from outside due to the profit that they made on them.
He said his ministry would liaise with the Ministry of Education to ensure that local printers who won the bid to print such textbooks, did so locally in order to create more employment for the youth.
The Managing Director of GCGL, Mr Ibrahim Awal, said Graphic Packaging (G-Pak), a subsidiary of GCGL, had the capacity to print millions of textbooks a day, and could also create about 5,000 direct and indirect jobs.
He said the €3 million facility at the G-Pak was working below its capacity, and called on the government to channel some of its printing jobs to the company so that it could employ more people.
The President of the Ghana Printers and Paper Converters Association, Mr James Appiah-Bekoe, appealed to the minister to help the local industry to flourish.