Charges for birth cert, passport and others to be increased by 15%
Transaction charges for government services are scheduled to be upwardly adjusted by 15% from January 2022.
Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta revealed this during the presentation of the 2022 Economic Police and Budget Statement to Parliament on Wednesday November 17th 2021.
The document stipulates that the new charges will be subjected to annual adjustment by the average inflation rate with the Finance Minister’s consent.
The fees will also automatically be reviewed every five years per the statement in the budget document.
“Review Fees and Charges with an average increase of at least 15 per cent in 2022 and thereafter subject it to automatic annual adjustments by average inflation rate as published by the Ghana Statistical Service, but with the prior consent of the Minister for Finance. The fees and charges should, however, be subjected to general review every 5 years. The effective date of implementation is 1st January 2022,” the Finance Minister stated.
This notice is part of the new initiatives by the government intended to raise domestic revenue.
Government services that will witness such upward adjustment include vehicle registration and drivers’ license issuance by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), birth and death certificate issuance by the Birth and Death Registry, passport issuance by the Passports Office among others.
Initially, these agencies were supposed to propose their service charge increment to the Finance Ministry, negotiate and get approval.
The new directive of the government, therefore, appears to regulate the frequency and rate at which such fees and charges are increased or decreased in some cases.
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
