By Kebba AF Touray
The Gambia’s Trade Minister, Babucarr Joof, has told the National Assembly that the only way to shield the country’s economy from external shocks is to promote and strengthen domestic production.
He said this while responding to the adopted report of the Trade Committee of the National Assembly, on Monday, 17 September 2024.
He said: “The most sustainable way of shielding our economy from the direct impact of the external shocks is to promote and strengthen the domestic production of most of the basic commodities that we are importing in large quantities such as rice, onions, potatoes, flour, poultry products, edible oil and cement.”
He told the assembly that they had reviewed the report of the Trade Committee and took note of the recommendations proffered to address the challenges in various markets.
As for Fluctuation of commodities prices, he said that is not unique to the Gambia, and as reported in many of his responses, “it is mostly a reflection of the volatility of the global commodities markets, and the Gambia like many net food importing countries, is vulnerable to external shocks”.
He reminded the assembly that at the time of the study tour of the committee in 2022, global prices of commodities including food commodities, were affected by the impact of COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the resultant export restriction measures adopted by several countries.
This he said has led the supply chain disruptions, which affect prices of commodities globally particularly net food importing countries, such as The Gambia.
The government, he said through the Ministry, has taken measures to minimize the negative impact of these external shocks on the domestic prices of commodities especially on rice, sugar, and flour.
The government negotiated with the government of India and obtained a waiver from the export restrictions to import rice from India on a concessional basis.
He added that they have closely worked with the GRA, CBG, and GPA to minimize the cost of importation and clearance of imports of essential commodities through duty waiver, provision of foreign currency, and priority birthing to avoid demurrage charges.
He disclosed that the government has taken steps to achieve this crusade by not only developing a Domestic Trade Strategy in January 2024 but also supporting and protecting domestic production of onions, potatoes, and rice.
He said: “As a result, we have seen an increased level of investment in the production of these commodities. This will not only enable us to minimize our high dependence on imports but also to leverage the opportunities in the domestic and regional markets”.
On the need for more market space and storage facilities, he said that the development of markets is the responsibility of the area councils, but the Ministry took note of the concerns and would engage the Lands Ministry.
“We recently engaged GAMWORKS to assess selected “Lumos” for our modernization initiative. The selected “Lumos” would have cold storage facilities, modern toilets, and other essential facilities.” he told the assembly.
On the payment of tax, he said that all imports to the Gambia are subjected to the Custom and VAT legislations implemented by the GRA.
“Thus, imports from third destinations, re-exported to the Gambia will be subjected to import duties and VAT. This is a legal requirement and businesses have to comply, even if these imports are coming through cross-border trade,” said Minister Joof.
He said that agricultural products including vegetables from the ECOWAS region are exempted from import duty due to the ECOWAS protocol on free movement of goods.
“My Ministry takes note of the challenges faced by vegetable sellers and will engage the GRA on such matters,” he said.
