By Laudia Anyorkor Nunoo
Tema, June 12, GNA – The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) says the introduction of the Publican Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool is significantly improving revenue mobilisation and enhancing compliance within Ghana’s customs administration system.
Officials of the Customs Technical Services Bureau (CTSB) of the Customs Division of the GRA said the AI-driven tool was introduced to help detect customs infractions, including under-declaration, misdescription, over-invoicing and undervaluation of imports.
The GRA officias announced this during a media forum powered by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA).
Mr Desmond Serlom Agbaku, a Senior Revenue Officer of the CTSB, said the system was introduced following concerns over revenue losses linked to customs offences and abuse of import documentation processes.
Mr Agbaku said the AI tool analyses information relating to importers, exporters, bank transfers, trade documents and historical customs records to support customs officers in determining the value, classification and origin of goods.
“The Publican AI is a tool to help customs in valuation, classification and determining the origin of goods. It analyses information and presents risk indicators to officers to support effective decision-making,” he said.
According to him, the system was piloted in February and fully deployed on March 12, 2026.
Mr Agbaku noted that since its deployment, the Authority had recorded improvements in revenue collection, attributing the gains partly to increased compliance among importers.
He explained that the AI tool does not replace customs officers but complements existing valuation and risk management tools used by the Authority.
“The Publican AI is just one of the tools available to customs officers. It supports the work of officers and helps make our processes more effective and efficient,” he stated.
He added that the system could identify inconsistencies in trade documentation, suspicious valuations, possible disease risks associated with imported goods and other indicators requiring closer scrutiny by customs officials.
Mr Frank Atakra, a Senior Revenue Officer of the CTSB, said before the introduction of the AI tool, one of the major challenges confronting customs was the submission of tampered invoices by some declarants to reduce their duty liabilities.
He explained that the Publican AI system was able to analyse trade documents and detect inconsistencies in invoices presented for duty assessment, helping Customs officers arrive at more accurate values for imported goods.
“Once you present a tampered invoice to Customs, this system is able to detect it and, in some cases, analyse the trade documents and provide a value that is reasonable for duty assessment,” Mr Atakra stated.
He noted that the system was designed to complement existing customs procedures and not to generate arbitrary values, stressing that it relies on information contained in invoices, bills of lading, packing lists, shipping documents, and historical trade records available to Customs.
The GRA officials said stakeholder engagements and sensitisation programmes were ongoing across the country to educate freight forwarders, importers and other stakeholders on the operation of the system.
They assured stakeholders that existing appeal mechanisms remained available for importers who disagreed with customs assessments generated through the AI-assisted process.
GNA
Edited by Lydia Kukua Asamoah
Reporter: Laudia Anyorkor Nunoo