A former Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, Gabby Otchere Darko, has bemoaned the low revenues being generated from the electronic transactions levy nearly two months after its implementation.
According to the leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) the initiative is generating only 10% of the estimated revenues prior to its implementation on May 1 2022.
Mr. Darko indicated that the e-levy is giving the nation less than GHC60 million instead of the GHC600 Million projected.
“After 5 months of stalemate and bashing, the e-levy, after implementation, is delivering only 10% of estimated revenues; our revenues remain very low as compared to the rest of the world; debt levels dangerously high, cedi, like most currencies, struggling against the US dollar”, Gabby Otchere Darko said in a tweet on Monday, June 27.
“What options are open to government? The question should rather be: what option, if adopted, will re-inject investor confidence in our economy? Even if we find the $3-5 billion required, will that help? E-levy which was to have given us some 600m by now has done less than 60m.”
He also expressed worry about high food inflation and government’s inability to pay wages of workers in the coming months.
“Our economy is growing faster than most countries around the world. But, that alone can’t save us as confidence in our ability to service our debts is lowering. We can’t continue to use all the little revenues raised to pay our debts. Very soon we may have to borrow to pay wages!”
“Ghana has no food crisis, enough food from our farms, yet food prices have shot up 3-4 times more in our cities, far & over above rising cost of transportation. To make matters worse, global food insecurity is worsening as inflation, from challenges with supply chain, worsens…”
Regarding calls to return to the IMF programme, Gabby Otchere Darko declared that “Am I against an IMF program in principle? No”
“I am not for an IMF program that throws peanuts at us but imposes conditions that will end up hurting the poor, jobs and businesses more. Covid-19 and War in Ukraine are not of Africa’s doing but more to our doom. A program that pretends it is all our doing is doomed to fail.”
“We do something that will inject confidence in our capacity to ride this heavy storm and that something should happen pretty quickly. Are you against an IMF program?”
