Ghana Revenue Authority Begins Production of Hand Sanitizers

• The Ghana Revenue Authority has begun producing hand sanitizers locally to reduce government expenditure on the health safety product amid the coronavirus pandemic.
• GRA’s Acting Commissioner, Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, said at a press conference, that the product, which is manufactured at the GRA Customs Laboratory in Accra.
• The GRA estimates that GHS164,000 will be saved monthly by manufacturing the sanitizers in our laboratory as opposed to buying from other sources.

The Ghana Revenue Authority has begun the production of hand sanitizers to reduce government expenditure on the health safety product amid the coronavirus pandemic.

This is the contribution of the GRA to support the efforts of the Government to curb the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic. The coronavirus update from Ghana shows that 1,550 cases have been confirmed in total, with 11 deaths and 155 people who have recovered from the infection. Ghana’s Health Minister Kwasi Agyemang-Manu announced to the public, the first cases of coronavirus in the country on the 13th March 2020. The cases were recorded with two individuals who entered Ghana from Norway and Turkey. the patients stayed in Ghana for about a week before the started to show symptoms of the disease.

GRA’s Acting Commissioner, Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, said at a press conference, that the product, which is manufactured at the GRA Customs Laboratory in Accra and contains ethanol, hydrogen peroxide, glycerol and purified water and has been licensed by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA).

He added that the GRA has so far produced and delivered 5,799 litres (417 cartons) for it to be used by staff and visitors across its facilities nationwide.

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“We estimate that GHS164,000 will be saved monthly by manufacturing the sanitizers in our laboratory as opposed to buying from other sources.”

He indicated that GRA also provides all its field workers with free nose masks and other PPE so that they are safe against the virus.

He also told the public, particularly taxpayers, that it has reopened its offices after the government lifted the partial lockdown restrictions in Accra, Kumasi, Tema, and Kasoa.

He said that taxpayers who may not be able to visit GRA offices can still submit their returns online via email and subsequent payments through banks.

He appealed to all taxpayers to pay their taxes as required by law to ensure that even during this time of COVID-19 crisis they meet their revenue targets.