Mobile Money providers to reduce charges by 25% to accommodate E-levy
After some controversies regarding the E-levy from the legislature and deliberations on the issue, it has finally gotten to the doorstep of the telcos and the likes of MTN and AirtelTigo have finally agreed downwardly adjust their fees on Mobile money transactions by 25%
The decision come after deliberations and engagements with stakeholders on the matter, the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications revealed.
“We have had extensive deliberation with government on the need to lessen the impact on our consumers. We acknowledge the need to expand the tax base.”
“However, to reduce the overall impact of the new levy on consumers, MTN and AirtelTigo have agreed to a downward revision of their P2P (person to person transfer) fees by up to 25% depending on respective operator.”
“Each operator would notify their customers of the applicable revised rate when the E-levy bill is passed into law,” the statement added.
The operators who have resolved to reduce their charges include Airtel Mobile Commerce Ltd (AirtelTigo Money), Mobile Money Limited (MTN MoMo) and Vodafone Ghana Mobile Financial Services Limited (Vodafone Cash).
Currently, Vodafone has no charges on mobile money transfers.
The government has proposed to charge a levy of 1.75% on electronic financial transactions.
Per what is stipulated in the proposal, the levy will exempt daily transactions of a cumulative value of GH¢100 or less, per person.
Also, in the budget, the recommended date for the commencement of the levy is January 1, 2022.
The budget indicates that up to 0.25 percentage points of the 1.5 per cent E-transaction levy or 16.7 per cent of the yield from the levy, should be used to support road infrastructure development.
Ten per cent of the 0.25 percentage points, i.e. 1.67% of the yield from the levy, would be dedicated to the improvement in public transportation, including the purchase of buses.
The introduction of this levy sparked controversy because of its impact on mobile money transactions and poor Ghanaians that use it.
Meanwhile, the Minority caucus in Parliament has been fighting the levy ahead of the debate on the Bill in Parliament.
The government has also said its analysis showed that the levy won’t affect 40 per cent of Ghanaians. The levy will exempt daily transactions of a cumulative value of GH¢100 or less, per person.
In the budget, the recommended date for the levy to kick-off is January 1, 2022.
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
