E-levy will lead to a 24% drop in mobile money usage – Deputy Minister reveals
Deputy Finance Minister has spoken about the downside that comes with the introduction of the Electronic Transaction levy where he revealed that the government had projected about a 24% drop in Mobile Money transaction after the introduction of the E-levy.
Mr. Kumah said the government also had a plan to boost education on the controversial E-levy.
“The research we did also told us that there will be about 24 per cent attrition rate in the three months to six months that we will introduce it.”
“The same research told us what should be done to bring back these people after a while, and we have all these things in place,” Mr. Kumah said.
“It is a matter of engagement and letting people understand that, don’t avoid it. It is your pride of place as a Ghanaian to know that your contribution is helping to build your country.”
Mr. Kumah also added that the government is “more than confident” that the level of attrition rate “will not lead to job losses.”
Earlier government had proposed a new 1.5 per cent rate for the levy, which was earlier pegged at 1.75%, despite the rejection by the Minority in Parliament and opposition from a section of the public.
Among the critics have been mobile money vendors who fear job losses in their sector.
In seeking for these concerns to be addressed, the Mobile Money Agents Association of petitioned the Minority Caucus in Parliament to push for the rejection of the tax policy.
It also called for more consultations on the issue.
The value of mobile money transactions reached GH¢89.1 billion in 2021 after a 96.7 per cent increase from the previous year.
The government has defended the unpopular levy as being necessary to widen the tax net, arguing that it could raise an extra GH¢ 6.9 billion to execute developmental projects in 2022.
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
