Times are hard, tough – Joe Jackson

A financial analyst, Mr Joe Jackson, has said Ghanaians have been plunged into tough times following the hike in some taxes as announced by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta in the Mid-Year budget review earlier this week.

The government proposed to increase the Energy Sector Levies by GHp 20 per litre for petrol and diesel and GHp 8 per kg for LPG.

The Communication Service Tax has also been increased to 9 per cent from 6 per cent while Ghana’s debt has ballooned to GHS204 billion from GHS198 billion, as of March 2019.

Speaking about the mid-year budget review on the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class91.3FM on Thursday, 1 August 2019, Mr Jackson said the budget review is bad news for the ordinary Ghanaian.

He told show host Benjamin Akakpo that: “If you read between the lines and some of the things that were said and un-said, you’ll realise that we are between a rock and a very hard place and that times are tough”.

“Essentially, for the man on the streets, let me put it bluntly: the mid-year review says you’ll pay more for talking on your phone, you’ll pay more for your data, you’ll pay more for Facebooking or WhatsApping. You’ll also pay more for fuel and that should scare all of us because [an increase in] fuel price constitutes huge transportation charges and constitutes a huge amount of the cost of things we pay…

“So, if we are paying more for talking, paying more for data, paying more for transport, you’re paying more for electricity, wow! this is a tough time”.