Ghana Bound By ECOWAS Treaty To Introduce VAT - Peprah

Accra Mr. Kwame Peprah, Minister of Finance, reiterated today that Ghana is bound by an ECOWAS treaty to re-introduce the Value Added Tax (VAT) to harmonise trade in the West African sub-region. "We are obliged by this Regional Treaty to conform to a common tax system in all the 16-member countries of the ECOWAS by 1999," Mr. Peprah quoted an ECOWAS protocol, to which Ghana is a signatory. Mr. Peprah said this at inauguration of a 13-member "Value Added Tax Oversight Committee " in Accra. He said most countries in the sub-region have already adopted the VAT, which failed in Ghana when it was first introduced in 1995. "We hope the reincarnation of the VAT will not have the same draw-backs as before," he told members of the committee, who are drawn from a broad spectrum of interest groups to ensure that views from various stakeholders are considered for smooth implementation. Membership of the committee is drawn from parliamentarians, political parties, the Association of Ghana Industries, the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce, the Market Women's Association, the Trades Union Congress and the Ghana Union of Traders' Associations, among others.