By Solomon T. Gaye, Sr.
Report emanating in Loguatuo says cross-border trade is high at that border town in Nimba County and over the weekend, Martha Saye, a prominent business woman boasted that trade in that border town is helping many of the residents to sell their agricultural produce and according to her, marketers residing in the 15 counties in Liberia and marketers residing in Ivory Coast converge every Friday of the week in Loguatuo to buy palm oil and cane juice which are taken to Ivory Coast for trade.
Since the beginning of 2021, Loguatuo border became the booming trade area with foreigners pouring in transshipment trucks, cargo trucks for commerce daily in Nimba County.
Elder John Gaye disclosed that every weekend two to three trucks leave with consignments of cane juice and palm oil across the border into the Ivory Coast but whether taxes are being paid is not to his knowledge.
Since the road work started in 2020 on the Loguatuo Highway, many transshipments and cargo trucks that use to pass Yekepa or Ganta borders are now passing through Loguatuo into Liberia.
A resident in Loguatuo Town, Elder Robert Biah explained that cross border trade in Loguatuo is a big boost for the economy in the country and urged the LRA to be sincere in the collection of the taxes.
However, when this paper contacted LIS offices at the border, they explained that the border is opened on the Liberian side but closed on the Ivorian side for taxes and the LIS referred the paper to the LRA but the LRA senior collector said that with regards to tax collection at the border, he had no knowledge.
During the beginning of October 2022, trucks carrying over three thousand bags of 25 kg bags of rice were intercepted by the joint security assigned at that border in Nimba County, but during a normal routine at the border in Loguatuo over the weekend, five trucks full of plastic chairs, including all kinds of dishes were in convoy leaving the border to other destinations in Liberia.
