Authors and publishers worried over high rate of import duty on educational materials

The Ghana National Association of Authors and Publishers has expressed worry over the high rate of import duty on educational materials.

The Association says this is against an international agreement on the importation of educational materials of which Ghana is a signatory.

Addressing the media in Kumasi, the group laments the situation will leave them with no option than to increase the prices of textbooks for pre-tertiary.

“In the book industry, we have a policy from the Florence Agreement by UNESCO which states that any educational material that passes through the port should be duty-free. We used to pay something small at the port to clear our books. What we pay has been out under port charges but in recent times, the port charges has seen an astronomical increment. Last year, we paid GHc 40,000 but this year we are paying GHc 82,000 for the same 20-feet contain.

“The effect will be that, the availability of books won’t be forthcoming and even if the books are there parents and guardians should expect to pay more for it.” said John Akwasi Amponsah, President of the group.

The President noted, the system of giving the textbooks on credit to government and private schools for 6 months can’t continue because of the rate at which the value of cedis depreciates.

“We had a policy of giving out books to schools on credit. We do that because of the importance of books to our children. But looking at the galloping effect of the exchange rate, we have to restragegize else most of us will be out of business. So for now, if the schools pay upfront, we give them 20 percent discount but if they pay in 30 days (which is the maximum credit period), they receive 10 percent discount”.

The group also called on government to establish a paper mill in the country through public private partnership to ensure local printers and textbook developers have paper to print books.

This they say will help reduce the cost of textbooks.

By Ibrahim Abubakar|3news.com|Ghana

Read Full Story