Ken Ashibgey
THE MOBILE telecommunications industry contributed a total of GH¢4.3 billion to the revenue generated by the government and other allied agencies in 2021, the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications has stated.
The chamber noted that the revenue was in the form of paid taxes and other remittances paid to the government.
Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber, Ken Ashibgey, who made the disclosure at the launch of the 2021 Total Tax Contribution Report, said the contribution formed approximately 7.7 per cent of the government’s 2021 total tax revenue collected.
He further indicated that GH¢722 million of the total amountwas in withholding taxes, whilst GH¢657.4 million was accrued from Value Added Tax (VAT) and GH¢571 million was from levies such as the National Health Insurance Levy.
Again, the chamber said Mobile Money was the key driver and enabler of Ghana’s cashlite and financial inclusion agenda.
“Beyond extending the reach of financial services, it provides huge employment formalising the informal economy and support effective monetary policy transmission,” he said.
In terms of jobs, he indicated that the number of people directly employed in the sector was 6,100, whilst indirect jobs were estimated at 1.2 million.
Meanwhile, he said the growth in the number of active mobile money customers in Ghana had been declining since 2017.
With the overall decline in the growth trend over the period 2013 to 2021, it appeared there was a saturation point for mobile money transactions.
The Center for Economics Finance and Inequality Studies has said any attempt at levying users would not drive usage and the anticipated revenue would be difficult to achieve.
“As the E-Levy depends on value, the maximum of GH¢100 exemption per day, although protecting the poor, opens up the avenue for users of mobile money to schedule their transactions and use other strategies to avoid the payment of E-Levy. For many, with the current E-Levy of 1.50%, only low value “Mobile Money” transactions are affected,” it said.
BY Jamila Akweley Okertchiri