The Ghana National Procurement Authority Limited (GNPA Limited) has initiated steps that will ensure the price of sugar on the domestic market stabilizes.

The imports are to be done under the free zone initiative, the Managing Director of GNPA, Mr Douglas Y. Kumasi says.

Although a bulk of the sugar would be consumed in the country, Mr Kumasi said part of it was to be retailed in neighbouring countries, including Nigeria, Mali and Burkina Faso.

"We expect it to help drive down prices of sugar or at least stabilise the prices. We also expect the small foreign exchange we will generate from the sale in neighbouring countries to help our finances and the country in general," he said.

The GNPA Limited was established in 1976 as a strategic importer of essential commodities to help stabilise prices of those consumables in the local market.

After becoming a household name in the commodity import and retail business in the country in the 1990s, the GNPA's fortunes nosedived, following a restructuring that cut off its source of funding in the early part of 2000.

The result was the accumulation of debt, which took a toll on the company's finances and operations.

Although it has successfully cleared those debts, years of underfunding from the state has weakened its balance sheet, forcing GNPA to downsize and lay off some staff in the recent past.