We will implement E-levy despite opposition – Akufo-Addo
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has rejected calls that Ghana should turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for help to revive the economy.
According to him, the government made some expenditures in order to relieve the burden on Ghanaians during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it has become necessary to put in place some measures to fill the gaps that were created.
President Akufo-Addo disclosed that “It will not be possible for Ghana to be forever dependent on foreign grants and foreign loans to keep our economy going. We have to find the money for our economic development”.
“These are the efforts that we are now making which are being resisted by the opposition but we will try and close the gap. That is the reason it has become necessary for us to use these measures like this famous tax which has caused so much unnecessary disputation; nevertheless, we would continue,” he noted.
However, some financial analysts and even some members of the NPP have criticized the government’s plan to raise revenue through the Electronic Transaction Levy, claiming that the estimated revenue from the controversial levy will not be adequate.
Despite Ghana’s fiscal crisis, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration has stated that it will not seek financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, Dr Mark Assibey Yeboah, a former New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament for New Juaben South and a former Chair of the Finance Committee of Parliament, believes that going to the IMF is the best option under the circumstances.
But the president has disagreed with these suggestions and the widespread opposition to the levy saying that “I am determined to persevere to make sure we find the means to address the issues that you have got. The government does not have money on its own. It has money from the taxes from the people. That is the only way it raises money to carry out its work”.
Source: Richard Mensah Adonu | Join our Telegram Group
