President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has disclosed that the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) raked in GH¢16.08 billion in customs revenue in 2021.
According to him, even though the introduction of the ICUMS provoked a lot of controversies, the benefits being witnessed far outweigh the concerns with increased customs revenue since its implementation.
He stated that prior to the implementation, customs revenue from June 2019 to May 2020 stood at GH¢11.25 billion while between June 2020 and May 2021 when the ICUMS when went live at the ports, customs revenue increased by 27.6% to GH¢14.36 billion.
This, he said, is regardless of the teething challenges, ill-considered propaganda and the impact of COVID-19 on global trade.
President Nana Akufo-Addo disclosed this in the State of the Nation Address (SONA) he delivered to Parliament on Wednesday.
He averred that the government’s digitalization agenda that has resulted in the paperless ports and the implementation of the ICUMS is opening up more opportunities, not only for the country but for businesses and the citizenry as well.
The government, he said, is expecting greater things from the greater use of technology and digitalization of the economy as a whole.
Intra-Africa trade
Speaking on intra-African trade, President Akufo-Addo noted the most significant step towards making this trade possible has been made with the launch of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS).
“This is a leading-edge technology connecting African banks, payment service providers and other financial market intermediaries to enable instant and secure payments between African countries.
“PAPSS means a trader in Ghana can order supplies in Kenya with cedis and buy it in Kenyan shillings and not have to go through dollars or Euros or pounds sterling.
“This will simplify the historical complexities and costs of making payments across African borders and provide operational efficiencies to open up vast economic opportunities for all stakeholders,” he added.
The Government, the Customs Division of the GRA, UNIPASS-Ghana and other well-meaning agencies joined up in 2020 to usher Ghana’s trade to a single-window system; the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS).
Functioning fully as an e-Customs system, it was introduced to coordinate cross-border trade activities, cut costs to stakeholders and increase government revenue mobilisation.
The change stemmed from the rising cost of port transactions, delayed clearance of goods and what the government deemed, ‘a huge leakage in revenue mobilisation.’
Another challenge stakeholders faced, was the use of multiple online platforms in assessing valuation, classification, risk management and payment; which were jointly managed by the Ghana Community Network Services (GCNet) Ltd and West Blue Consulting at the time.
The innovation was launched to revive the trade sector and came as a direct successor of the former Pre-Arrival Assessment Report System (PAARS) and the Ghana Customs Management System (GCMS).
As a single window for processing documents and payments, the ICUMS allows users to create a Unique Consignment Reference (UCR), an exclusive number for easy identification and tracking of all cargo.
It provides all needed assistance on one platform without the need to switch between different systems to access varied services.
ICUMS also features a stand-by human resource management model that identifies officers assigned to a consignment and records the period in which activities on the consignment were carried out.
The System also streamlines the tracing of missing cargoes and features end-to-end tracking that does not allow operators to tamper with figures.
