Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister says the government in consultation with the various telecommunication companies will scale back the proposed 1.75% levy on all electronic transactions in the country.
The minister who was making his final submission before Parliament [30 November 2021] to address some concerns raised by Ghanaians after the presentation of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the government said the move is to manage the impact of the policy on citizens.
“We have considered the issue of the 1.75% E-Levy in which Mr Speaker, we’re in discussions with the telcos and to scale back and moderate the impact of the 1.75% E-Levy so that in the end, the impact on the citizenry will be manageable,” he stated.
The Minority in an earlier statement indicated that the “government should suspend the E-Levy and properly engaged stakeholders to agree on a reasonable policy. How can mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments, and inward remittances be charged 1.75%? The policy is retrogressive, not pro-poor and does not support the much-touted digitalisation agenda and cash lite economy that we all yearn for.”
Aker Energy deal
The Minority’s statement also urged the government to properly reconstruct the wording relating to Aker Energy and also involving the GNPC acquisition of stake from Aker Energy and AGM Petroleum.
In response, the finance minister assured the House that the committee assigned to discuss the Aker Energy and its related issues will address them as per the demands of the Minority.
“Mr Speaker, there was an issue about Aker Energy which we agreed in our statement that we will correct the language appropriately during committee meetings and that, we commit to doing,” he added.
Withdrawal of Agyapa
The Minority in their demands and in connection with the Agyapa deal also indicated that it will not support any collateralisation of the country’s revenues particularly mineral resources.
But Ofori-Atta again, addressing Parliament on Friday explained that “there was another request which has to do with Agyapa and we agreed that consultations are not finished. Attorney General is still working on that and any such issue will also be brought to Parliament. Mr Speaker, in fact, the estimate does not include any revenue from that transaction,” he said.
Source: Asaase Radio