Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has announced that the government will introduce statutory maximum warehousing periods as part of measures to address what he describes as the abuse of warehouse facilities and improve efficiency in Ghana’s customs and revenue administration system.
According to the Finance Minister, the reforms are aimed at preventing the prolonged storage of goods in bonded warehouses, a practice that has contributed to delays in revenue collection, increased congestion at the ports and created compliance challenges within the import and export sector.
Ato Forson made the disclosure while presenting the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review to Parliament on Thursday, July 23, where he outlined a series of measures being implemented by the government to strengthen domestic revenue mobilisation and improve trade facilitation.
He explained that the current warehousing system has been exploited by some operators who keep goods in bonded warehouses for extended periods, thereby delaying the payment of duties and affecting the timely collection of government revenue.
To address the challenge, the Finance Minister said the government will establish clear legal time limits within which different categories of goods can remain in warehouses before the appropriate customs procedures must be completed.
He said under the proposed arrangement, perishable goods will have a maximum warehousing period of three months, general goods will be limited to six months, and raw materials will be allowed to remain in warehouses for up to 12 months.
He said the government intends to limit re-warehousing to a maximum period of six months to prevent the system from being used as a means of indefinitely postponing the payment of duties.
“To curb the abuse of warehousing, government will introduce statutory maximum warehousing periods as follows, perishable goods – three months, general goods – six months, raw materials – 12 months and re-warehousing will be restricted to a maximum of six months, ending the practice of rolling warehouses.
“Every bonded warehouse will be required to operate an electronic inventory system linked to customs to enable real-time monitoring and audit control. These are not merely administrative adjustments, they are structural reforms designed to accelerate revenue collection, reduce port congestion, improve compliance and provide greater certainty for legitimate businesses.”
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