12 years old cars can now be imported

Hamburg (Germany) - Twelve years old vehicles could be imported into the country without attracting any penalty, when a bill the government is preparing comes into effect.

Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance, announced this when President John Agyekum Kufuor met the Ghanaian Community on the second day of his three-day official visit to Germany at the invitation of the German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Mr Osafo-Maafo, who is in President Kufuor's entourage, said government's economic policies and programmes were geared towards an improvement of the current growth rate of 4.5 per cent to five per cent.

"We want to ensure that Ghana grows at a rate unprecedented in Africa," he said, adding that under the new bill, 12 years instead of the present 10 years had been stipulated, as the average age for vehicles and only those above 12 years would attract special penalties.

He said for passenger vehicles and trucks, the average age would be 15 years. The Minister said the Bill was aimed at controlling petrol consumption and protecting the environment from exhaust-fumes.

Mr Osafo-Maafo said imported goods for clinics, hospitals or educational institutions would not attract any duty at the port of entry and reminded

Ghanaians that those consigned to individuals would attract duty. He said a special desk has been established to deal with people and institutions that import goods to assist development projects in their communities.