President Akufo-Addo has expressed satisfaction that parliament has successfully passed the controversial Electronic Transfer Levy (e-levy).
The president, while delivering the much anticipated State of the Nation Address for 2022, stated that “despite the protected and sometimes acrimonious nature of proceedings, I’m happy that the house has finally found it possible to pass the e-levy bill.”
He added that “I believe strongly the levy is going to make a significant contribution to revenue mobilization and the management of our national economy”
While thanking members of parliament for making the passage of the bill possible, the president sought the help of the legislators and Ghanaians to overcome the numerous challenges confronting the country.
According to President Akufo-Addo, no government can undertake this task all by themselves thus the need for all Ghanaians to pull and push together.
He noted that “the road to recovery will be long and hard but the country has started on a good footing by accepting that we are in a difficult place and are taking the difficult decisions that will get us out.”
Meanwhile, the minority has described the passage of the e-levy as an illegality and have hinted of challenging it in the court of law.
The minority caucus staged a walk out when the e-levy bill went through the second reading and was at the consideration stage on Tuesday, March 29.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, expressed surprise at the walk out by the minority however, proceedings of the house continued with only the majority side finally passing the 1.5% levy on all electronic transactions.
The levy, which was initially pegged at 1.75% was slashed down to 1.5% after majority of Ghanaians rejected the bill.
Critics have said the bill when passed would increase the economic burden of Ghanaians and impact negatively the Fintech space.
But the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has debunked assertions that that the electronic levy bill when passed will kill the mobile money business in the country.
