Review E-Levy to 0.5% – Prof. Quartey

• Posted on July 22, 2022July 22, 2022
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, Prof. Peter Quartey, has called on the government to use the 2022 midyear budget to review the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) to make it cheaper for more Ghanaians to contribute to it.

In an interview ahead of the mid-year review next Monday, the Economics professor said a revised collection rate from 1.5 per cent to 0.5 per cent, intensified education and accompanying measures would encourage compliance and narrow the revenue generation gap recorded in the first quarter of the year.

He explained that most Ghanaians were evading the levy because of the high rate, limited education and loopholes associated with the structure of the levy.

In another interview ahead of the mid-year budget review, a former Minister of Finance, Seth Terkper, called for bold revisions to the 2022 targets to help inspire market confidence and soften the ground for an economic programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Mr Terkper said the mid-year budget review must also be used to psych up and prepare the citizenry towards an IMF bailout which, he said, would be dominated by belt-tightening measures, especially in the first years.

The former member of staff of the IMF mentioned steep cuts in revenue and expenditure targets as some of the things needed to signal to the IMF that the country was ready to take the needed decisions to help restore fiscal discipline.

Both eminent personalities were sharing their views with the Daily Graphic yesterday ahead of the mid-year budget review expected to be laid in Parliament next Monday.

-Graphic