Ghana: E-Levy to be resubmitted to Parliament on Jan. 25

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has said that the Electronic Transaction Levy (e-Levy) Bill will be resubmitted when Parliament reconvenes on January 25, 2021.

The Minister, in a media briefing on Wednesday, said the e-levy is critical to rebuilding Ghana’s economy.

“Ladies and gentlemen the E-levy is a necessary tool to increase our tax to GDP from circa 11.13 % to 16% and above to guarantee that we pay for what we use,” he said.

For this reason he called on both sides of the House to “look forward in joining hands to approve the e-levy on a consensus basis so that we collectively address the big issue of unemployment, debt sustainability, infrastructure and especially build our roads.”

Citing Bloomberg’s report on Ghana’s economy, he said approving the e-levy would help address the issue of the downgrade of Ghana’s credit rating from B to B-.

Mr. Ofori-Atta also noted that the levy would be the driving force to move the country towards a more sustainable debt level.

He added that the levy would serve as a means to make Ghanaians contribute to help develop the economy.

“E-Levy also provides a means for all Ghanaians to help support their country and grow this economy as complaint citizens giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.

source: myjoyonline.com