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On May 2nd, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo inaugurated the Kia automobile assembly plant in Ghana and encouraged the company to strive towards making its products more accessible to local consumers. The plant, in Amasaman near Accra and set up by Rana Motors Limited, a local licensed dealer for the South Korean automaker, will assemble various Kia models for Ghana and the West African markets.
Ghana’s industrial transformation plan will benefit greatly from the opening of the plant, according to President Akufo-Addo. He said it would facilitate the government’s vision of turning Ghana into a fully integrated and competitive automotive hub in West Africa.
According to the President, the government’s Automotive Development Policy, designed to attract investment in the automotive sector, made the establishment of the plant possible. The government intends to pursue policies that would encourage the purchase of locally assembled vehicles. President Akufo-Addo emphasized that demand for assembled vehicles was crucial for the automotive industry’s growth and announced that the government was developing policies to enable ordinary citizens to gain locally assembled vehicles.
In addition, the President disclosed that the government would introduce an asset-based vehicle financing scheme to stimulate demand for domestically assembled vehicles, as well as implement the zero-rating of VAT on the sale of domestically assembled vehicles. The President also charged the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to submit to Parliament the required legislative instruction proposing the implementation start date of the Customs Amendment Act (2020). Kia is the latest global car brand to join other manufacturers, such as Toyota-Suzuki, Nissan, Volkswagen, Peugeot, Sinotruck, and Kantanka, in establishing assembly plants in Ghana.
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Source: Omanghana.com
