Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the efficiency of the customs service in Ghana.

Ghana's customs service falls under the responsibility of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) with whom we share a good relationship.

We support the World Bank's respected and influential annual Doing Business Survey, which reports on many of the key issues that businesses face in countries across the world. One important indicator that the report examines relates to trading across borders. The effectiveness of a country's customs procedures are highly relevant to this indicator. For Ghana, the 2016 survey indicated a small improvement in the country's relative ranking for trading across borders. However, burdensome procedures and corruption at borders are among the most problematic factors for trade in Ghana. Customs procedures lack efficiency and exporting and importing require time-consuming paperwork to clear goods at the border. Corruption and bribery in these processes are widespread. A recent report by US based GAN Integrity found that whilst Ghana performs best in the West African region for road governance in relation to customs services, controls and demands for bribes are increasing at the Tema port exit.

We continue to follow these matters closely and regularly raise concerns about the ease of doing business including corruption with the Government of Ghana.