The Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA) has completed investigations into shipping lines accused of applying arbitrary exchange rates for services rendered, with findings set to be submitted to the Bank of Ghana for regulatory action.
“Some shipping lines are using their own arbitrary exchange rate; we have done all the investigations and given our findings to the Bank of Ghana,” Professor Ransford Gyampo, CEO of GSA, disclosed on current affairs programme.
He emphasized the need for shipping lines to adhere strictly to Ghanaian financial regulations, adding, “Hopefully, we will all meet and look at this.”
Prof. Gyampo also lamented that some international shipping lines continue to resist regulatory oversight despite government’s ongoing efforts to introduce a Legislative Instrument (LI) to regulate their operations.
“The cost of doing business in Ghana is very high, some people are charging exorbitant prices on shipping items, being deliberately incompetent just to cause people to pay demurrage,” he noted.
He warned that such practices were driving businesses to consider relocating to other countries with lower operational costs.
“We have a right to make our laws, we will not do that to antagonise anybody,” Prof. Gyampo stressed, underscoring government’s resolve to streamline the shipping sector to reduce the cost of doing business.
