The acting Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Amishaddai Owusu Amoah, has revealed that the prognosis of the country attaining an overall target of more than ¢42billion will be realized in spite on the pandemic.
Amishaddai Owusu Amoah spoke at an interaction with the media on the impact of the virus on revenue mobilization.
According to him, the country had raked in about ¢26billion from domestic tax collections at the end of August this year, which is well above the stipulated target by the Finance Minister.
“…as at the end of August, GRA has collected 26.7 billion and if you compare the 26.7 billion based on the mid-year review, I must say that we’re above the mid-year review target as at end of August.
“Definitely, I can assure that we will meet the mid-year review target but we are aiming that we will be able to go beyond the mid-year review target and we’re putting the necessary strategies to ensure because all these initiatives in addition to the effective debt collection is increasing our revenues”.
Additionally, he noted that the mining and telecommunications sector has recorded the highest revenue collections so far.
“Whatever minerals or royalty that has to be paid, is continually coming through and I must say that because there has been increase in the price of gold, from $1,500 to almost $2000, there is an increase in revenue from both the corporate income tax from the mining sector as well as the royalties”.
Meanwhile, a tax expert, Kofi Frempong-Kore of KPMG has advised businesses to review and optimize their business models in order to remain in operations, post Covid-19.
Speaking at a zoom meeting between KPMG and Ghanaian-German Economic Association (GGEA) on the theme “Capitalizing on government’s incentives and leveraging on tax review for growth in post-Covid-19 era” also urged businesses to fully utilise government’s incentives in the post-Covid-19 era to revitalize their operations.
According to him, every aspect of business has changed with the coronavirus pandemic, hence it is time for businesses to review their business models, adding, the needs and expectations of customers have changed and continue to shift.
“So, for businesses to have the best bets on markets, they have to reposition and take advantage of the positives of the pandemic. One thing is certain, business models have been disrupted and new ones are emerging. Our advice is for you to position your business to leverage this unexpected event as an opportunity to reflect and reboot, and start to plan now for building a stronger, more digital and insight-led business”.
He mentioned that for businesses to thrive during and beyond Covid-19 pandemic, they would have to optimize their operating models.
According to him, for a proper optimization to occur, fundamental changes need to be made about operating systems, organization structure and governance, culture systems, data security, among others.
