Counterfeiting takes toll on economy

Source: Graphic Online  -  The business community has called for closer collaboration with regulatory authorities to fight the counterfeit menace to save businesses, consumers and the economy.

Mr Hazem Chalabi, the acting General Manager of Silver Star Auto Ltd, distributors of Mercedes Benz vehicles and spare parts, called for a task force made up of the government, the private sector, consumers and civil society to conduct regular checks in the market to stem the influx of counterfeit products.

“A lot of cars that visit our workshop suffer the effects of counterfeit parts. The consumer would have already paid the first time for the fake product. 

He buys the original part this time and pays again. We can see the effects on our roads; the high number of accidents,” Mr Chalabi told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS after a breakfast meeting on April 2, 2014 on the Real Cost of Fake and Inferior Products on Industry.”

Mr Chalabi expressed worry that the perpetrators openly operated in the market. “But nothing is being done to stop it and this is what the private sector and people who have investments in the country are concerned about.”

The Ghanaian-German Economic Association (GGEA) organised the forum as part of its thought leadership programmes to stimulate discussions around issues that affect their members and the private sector in general.

The car dealership firm was also saddened that consumers only looked at prices and not the relationship between quality and price; they often bought the counterfeit products which tended to be more costly sooner or later.