The nationwide education and sensitization of exporters on Letters of Commitment (LoC), which is a collaboration between the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) and the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has received positive feedback from exporters in the Northern region.
The collaboration between the two state agencies is to sensitise exporters to appreciate the new regime of the LOC and how they can collectively contribute to ensure sanity in the sector, and enhance repatriation of export proceeds to the country.
The team of facilitators for the month-long nationwide sensitisation commenced work on 9th August 2022 in Sunyani and have so far educated exporters in four regional capitals including Kumasi and Bolgatanga.
Speaking at the workshop in Tamale on 17th August 2022, the Chairman of the Northern Regional Shipper Committee Mr. Husein Alhassan commended the GSA and its partners for engaging exporters in the region on the LoC saying “it has helped to address some of the challenges confronting members”.
He said exporters in the region are now well informed and will be able to tackle recurrent challenges such as the incidences of inadequate time allocated for the repatriation of export proceeds, delays in accessing repatriated proceeds from commercial banks, low exchange rate offered by the banks and the instability of the current form of the LOC for the small-scale cross border trade, among others.
The Kumasi Branch Manager of the GSA Mr. Isaac Tersiah Ackwerh encouraged the exporters to take advantage of such training workshops to improve on their knowledge in the sector. He said “this partnership will not
only boost awareness creation on the LOC but will also help educate exporters on the procedures involved, promote compliance, as well as identify challenges associated with the implementation.”
The Head of Foreign Operations at the BoG, Mr. Eric Kweku Hammond highlighted the importance of such engagements and urged members to support and comply with the initiative to guarantee safety and sanity in the industry.
