New revenue measures to get economy back on track - Deputy Finance minister

Abena Osei-Asare is a deputy Minister of Finance

The Deputy Minister of Finance, Abena Osei Asare, has explained that the three new revenue measures before parliament are to support the vulnerable in society and get the economy back on track.

According to her, it has become crucial for the country to widen its revenue space to recoup the losses made due to the coronavirus pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine.

“This is to support the economy to get back on track and implement the agenda of supporting the vulnerable who have been hit hard by Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war. Inasmuch as we are raising revenue, we also need to look at the vulnerable who have been hit hard and these are the revenues that we believe that if we raise we can use some to support them,” she is quoted by citinewsroom.com.

The deputy minister stated that these domestic revenue mobilization measures will also help increase Ghana’s GDP.

“As a country, we need to mobilise our own domestic revenue to pursue our own national development agenda and so these are some of the things we can do to raise revenue. As we speak if you compare the revenue, we raise to our GDP we are still way below the West African target of below 16 to 18 percent we are still doing 13 percent and so there is more that we feel we can do,” she added.

Parliament is expected to consider the passing of three new revenue measures into law today March 23, 2023.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the new proposed taxes will increase the country’s domestic revenue by almost GH¢5 billion and also boost the country’s Ghana’s fiscal position.

The revenue measures include the Income Tax Amendment Bill, Growth and Sustainability Bill, and the Excise Amendment Bill.

According to the government, minimum wage earners would be exempted from taxes under the Income Tax Amendment Bill, which is anticipated to bring in ¢1.2 billion.

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