ICUMS rakes in GHS 16bn in revenue for government – Prez Akufo-Addo
The Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS), has raked in some GHS 16.08bn in total revenue for government at the end of 2021.
This is against some GHS 11.25bn revenue generated in 2019 from port trading activities prior to the formal introduction of the ICUMS system.
Compared to the GHS 14.36bn generated in 2020, this marks an increase of 27.6% in revenue mobilisation by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) at the nation’s sea ports on a year-on-year basis.
The increase in mobilised revenue is despite the severe impact of the Covid pandemic on port activities in 2020 and 2021.
Making the disclosure during the presentation of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, March 30, President Akufo-Addo, noted the increase in revenue was facilitated by the introduction of the ICUMS system and digitisation of port operations.
“Mr Speaker, I have spoken on other occasions about the digitization of port operations or what we all now call the paperless port. I am glad to say that the initial problems have largely been overcome, and we are witnessing the advantages in faster processes at the port and less opportunities for corruption with the reduction of human interface. ICUMS, when it was introduced, provoked a lot of controversy. At the moment, we are seeing the benefits.”
“Indeed, Customs revenue, prior to the implementation of ICUMS, for the period June 2019 to May 2020, stood at GH¢11.25 billion. Between June 2020, the start of ICUMS, and May 2021, teething challenges, ill-considered propaganda and the impact of COVID-19 on global trade notwithstanding, customs revenue has increased by 27.6% to GH¢14.36 billion. Indeed, customs revenue for 2021 stood at GH¢16.08 billion, as opposed to GH¢12.03 billion in 2019 when ICUMS had not been implemented,” remarked the President.
ICUMS generating GHS 1.4bn in revenues each month
Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Reverend Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, has said trade facilitation tool, the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS), generates for government some Ghs 1.3 billion to Ghs 1.4 billion every month.
According to him, the present revenue figures indicate the blockage of some Ghs 6 billion revenue leakage in the previous system manned by GCNet and West Blue.
“We have seen significant increase in revenue, if you take the average revenue generated before June 2020 – before the deployment of ICUMS – it was between Ghs 800 million to Ghs 900 million per month, but now we are doing about Ghs 1.3 billion to Ghs 1.4 billion per month. Indicating that we are doing about Ghs 300 million or Ghs 400 million more every month and if you multiply that by 12 months, that’s like Ghs 6 billion in revenues for one year alone, and this was how much was being lost,” the Commissioner-General stated.
“We have done our own analysis and looked at the CI values of all cargoes coming in as well as the volumes of imports and exports to see if there are significant changes in those areas but we have found none, so clearly there were leakages in revenue collection which have now been sealed,” added the Commissioner-General.
