Minister for finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has revealed that government is committed to achieving the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda.
According to him, despite the seeming disappointment among some Ghanaians with government seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) while touting a Ghana Beyond Aid agenda, the current fiscal situation is unique and demands unique measures.
“There’s no question about it in terms of commitment to it… I mean the global situation, as the Managing Director of the IMF said, is grim and the dark clouds are not over yet, they’ll continue. So, you look at your resource envelope, you look at where you can get the appropriate support to move forward, and truly the need to engage the Fund wasn’t very clear.”
Ken Ofori-Atta
Mr Ofori-Atta indicated that in spite of being aware of some statements he made in the past on seeking support from the IMF, going to the IMF is what the country currently needs to address the challenges. He explained that the move is “disappointing for all of us”, but really due to what has occurred in the period, it’s unprecedented and government is wholly committed to ensuring that the country goes through this very “successfully and quickly”.
“And given our commitment to achieving our Ghana Beyond Aid, one cannot have one’s statement in the past be the reason for not looking for a solution that will get us to a Ghana Beyond Aid. So, I’m sure it’s disappointing.”
Ken Ofori-Atta
Resolving challenges of e-levy
Commenting on the possibility of scrapping the e-levy, Mr Ofori-Atta emphasized government’s resolve to pursing it. He highlighted that due to the rapid digitalization of the country’s economy, the e-levy has become an important tax to capture all Ghanaians to contribute to the development of the country.
Nonetheless, he acknowledged that the e-levy has failed to meet the projected revenue targets in the months since its passage.
The finance minister stated that government expected to raise some 600 million cedis a month and barely has 10% of that given the exemptions on the levy and the leakages encountered in the e-levy implementation. He explained that the challenges will be investigated and “we should be able to plug those holes and that will be helpful”.
“The issue of the challenges we’ve had with E-levy is going to be important as we assess it and find ways of eliminating the leakages and exemptions that we have. And we’ll do that during this coming time… We have to pursue it because it’s an important tax handle that will enable all of us to contribute in one fell swoop and has the capacity of a compliance once the leakages and exemptions are taken care of.”
Ken Ofori-Atta
Mr Ofori-Atta indicated that government has been “lucky in a sense with regards to oil revenues” as it has accrued some GHC6 billion. This, he noted, will be helpful for government to “mute the loss in revenues from e-levy”.
That notwithstanding, the finance minister expressed that the e-levy remains an important platform as the country is going much more into e-commerce than it had ever been and that will continue.
“I think we had about a trillion cedis worth of transaction by the end of last year and we think that’s going to accelerate. I think it gives us a chance for all of us to contribute to this Ghana Beyond Aid vision… No one likes to pay taxes, and when it comes to a tax system that you may not be able to dodge or avoid it becomes a little intimidating or you might feel it as the coerciveness of the state. But truly, the country has to be run with taxes.”
Ken Ofori-Atta
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