Ken Ofori-Atta
MINISTER FOR Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has called on Ghanaians to support government to close the revenue gap in its annual budget through the Electronic Transactions Levy, also known as E-Levy.
According to the minister, the time has come for Ghanaians to “burden share” to enable the state have adequate revenue to embark on developmental projects we so much desire.
He said this at the government town hall meeting on the E-Levy in the Upper West regional capital, Wa on Monday, February 21, 2022.
“Part of my message this afternoon is for us to join hands, stay with whichever party we want but let’s have a common language and threshold of where we want to go. Because we are the ones who have to mobilise our own resources to fund the development that we want. Nobody will do it for us, so it is important we join hands to fund our own needs as a people,” the minister said.
The one-day forum, which is the fourth community outreach programme by government, is organised under the auspices of the Ministry of Information to explain the importance of the levy as a source of revenue for national development.
Present at the forum were the Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister for Interior, Ambrose Dery, Upper West Regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih, Deputy Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Issahaku Hamidu Chinia, leaders of religious bodies, teachers, civil servants, members of the security agencies, traditional leaders and host of business persons.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah recounted the robustness of the Ghanaian economy prior to the influx of the COVID-19 pandemic and how the deadly virus has eroded the gains we made as a country. He said though the pandemic has caused lots of harm and economic hardships, all is not lost as government is proactively putting measures in place to bring the economy back on track. He said what is left is for Ghanaians to support government in bringing the economy back to life through the levy.
Mr. Dery bemoaned Ghana’s Tax to GDP ratio and how it falls short, comparatively to other country’s ratio in the sub-region. This, he said, explains why government needs to roll out efficient revenue mobilisation measures such as the E-Levy to cater for the growing needs of the Ghanaian people.
Dr. Salih, on his part, said the E-Levy would offer the country enough revenue to sustain and keep the government’s flagship programmes such as the YouStart, Ghana CARES ‘Obaatanpa’ and other youth-oriented programmes that are being rolled out. He said the levy puts government in a better position to provide for the needs of Ghanaians.
Mr. Chinia underscored the need to look inward to mobilise revenue to finance our own development. He said the E-Levy will rake in the much-needed revenue which the government could use to accelerate the development of the country for the benefit of the citizenry.