His Excellency,Nana Akufo-Addo, defended his management of Ghana’s economy by comparing it to the difficulties the economies of her neighbours such as Nigeria are going through as a result of the havoc wreaked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo expressed confidence in the government’s plans, targeted at reviving Ghana’s struggling economy, in relation to the controversial Electronic Transfer Levy, also known as E-Levy. Speaking to the BBC’s Peter Okowche. According to President Akufo-Addo, the E-Levy is government’s strategy to offer the country the opportunity to recover from the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He stated that, “In Ghana, the recovery program we have is very credible and that is what is going to give us the opportunity to come out of this period a stronger economy, and it is that future we are looking at. The digital economy is emerging as the biggest economy in the country and for a long period, it has not had any tax at all, so it is important that it also comes into the net. ”He went on to add that, “The world is going through very difficult times. Ghana is no exception, Nigeria is no exception. There is no country in the world that has escaped the ravages of COVID-19… What you need to look at is the elements being put on the ground that looks beyond the Russia Ukraine war.”
He also explained that,“The economy has gone through very difficult times. I can quote statistics of the US and UK economies, but they will not serve a purpose. It is a phenomenon that is going on which has made life difficult.”
President Akufo-Addo went ahead to sign the E-levy Bill into law just 2 days after passage,though it’s being challenged at the Supreme Court by the Minority in Parliament against its passage.
The Akufo-Addo government, expects that the E-levy will widen the tax net and raise an extra GH 6.9 billion cedis in 2022.He went on to sign this bill, which imposes a 1.5 per cent tax on some digital transactions,even against the will of the people of Ghana and the minority in Parliament.