The Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana (IEAG) has called on the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to strengthen its digital services and payment platforms to prevent disruptions to port operations.

The association said recent outages on government digital platforms, particularly the Ghana.gov platform at the ports, had caused delays and financial losses for  businesses.

Speaking at a press conference, Executive Director of the IEAG, Samson Asaki Awingobit, said the platform was reportedly unavailable for about a week before service was restored.

He said the disruption affected businesses that rely on the platform to undertake customs and other port-related transactions.

Mr Awingobit urged the GRA to invest in system resilience, regular maintenance, technical support and effective contingency arrangements to minimise the impact of future outages.

He stressed that reliable digital infrastructure was essential as Ghana increasingly adopts technology-driven systems for customs administration and trade facilitation.

The IEAG also called for effective backup systems to allow critical transactions to continue when primary digital platforms experience technical failures.

According to the association, improving the reliability of digital systems would complement ongoing reforms to make Ghana’s ports more efficient and reduce the cost of doing business.

Source: GNA