The President of the Fulah Business Association in Liberia (FBAL), Mohammed Majah Barrie, has identified a number of policies affecting businesses in the country and made proper recommendations to government in order that they may remedy the situation for the improvement of economic activities of the country.
Speaking at the 4th National Judicial Conference in Monrovia, President Barrie, who was flanked by his Secretary General, Sulaiman Jalloh, noted that surcharges imposed by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning on goods manufactured in Liberia is extremely exorbitant, thus causing high prices on those commodities. He emphasized that some of the ministry’s surcharges are even higher than the custom duty of the products.
Barrie explained that, of recent, the business community has been experiencing serious delay in obtaining Import Permit Declarations (IPDs), a situation caused by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s new policy of making the minister-proper the only signatory of IPDs. According to him, there were two to three signatories for IPDs and the process was smoothly on-going, until the ministry adapted this new policy, which is hampering businessmen in obtaining IPDs on time.
On APM Terminals’ poor services and unlimited penalties, President Barrie said the company has very limited equipment to handle the large number of containers coming into the country. He bemoaned that containers languish at the entry of the Freeport and the main streets of Monrovia due to the company’s poor and inadequate equipment, which in return causes huge traffic in and out of the port areas.
He stated that APM Terminals has a tendency of increasing penalties by 100% when a businessman delays in getting out his consignment in five days from the Freeport of Monrovia. He explained that the normal charge for a 40-foot container’s storage is US$26.61 per day, but this amount is increased to US$46.60 after the first five days and to US$78.22 after the next five days.
The FBAL President lashed at shipping lines for what he termed “unnecessary charges”. He said after fully paying freight charge aboard, shipping lines in Liberia still demand US$320 for 40-foot containers. He added that if a businessman fails to clear his consignment on time the shipping lines request late fees, reprint fees and demurrage, which he considers unnecessary to the process.
President Barrie has meanwhile noted that, even though it is important for the Government of Liberia (GOL) to maintain surcharges to protect local produces, it needs to consider consumer protection from high prices, recommending that government consider imposing less than 50% of the duty cost on a product as surcharge. He also recommended that the Commerce Ministry give IPD signing authority to two or three persons as used to be, as doing so will fast-track the process and put the economy at an advantage of having variety of products on the market at the same time.
He made emphasis on the need for APM Terminals to improve its capacity in terms of smoothly handling goods and services at the port. “We also recommend that fees charged on container storage be maintained for, at least, one month, instead of only five days. After this period, increment should not be more than 50% of the initial charge,” President Barrie noted.
He also recommended that shipping lines completely get rid of late fee and reprint fee, adding that demurrage is similar to late fees. “We can’t be paying for both at the same time,” he lambasted.