MP for Fanteakwa South urges Ghanaians to support Govt Tax Policy to Boost Economy
THE Member of Parliament for Fanteakwa South Constituency, Hon Kofi Okyere –Agyekum has called on Ghanaians to support the government tax policy to mitigate the economic challenges facing the country.
According to him, supporting the development by fulfilling our tax obligation would further boost the economy and by far bring the needed development we expect as citizens.
Hon Okyere-Agyekum was commenting on the 2023 budget statement and economic policy presented to parliament by the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori Atta in parliament.
He told EXPRESSNEWSGHANA in parliament, the budget and the accompanying tax policy presented to parliament are all geared toward reviving the challenging economy and that Ghanaians should rally behind the government.
“The policy decisions made inside the 2023 Budget affects those of you outside of it. They affect all of us because no one wants to voluntarily pay tax, but the situation we are in as a country following COVID-19 and other external factors like the Ukraine-Russia war have all forced our economy to face difficulties.
So some of these taxies, especially the E-levy and the 2.5 percent VAT increment are all geared towards reviving the economy and we must not shy away from that truth, “Hon Okyere-Agyekum added.
HON KOFI OKYERE-AGYEKUM
On Thursday 24th March 2022 – Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta gave details of Government plans to address the economic difficulties due to recent global and domestic events and assured that government will not roll back on its major policy interventions such as the free SHS.
“Let me say this, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has no intention to roll back on a major policy like Free SHS. We see education as the best enabler for sustainable economic growth and transformation and will do more to improve on it for it to serve more and better our children” he assured.
Mr. Ofori-Atta revealed that Cabinet deliberated extensively on several issues and approved measures to support current efforts to address the challenges Ghanaians were facing at its first regular quarterly retreat for 2022.
This, Fanteakwa South lawmaker who is the Ranking of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament stressed that the difficulties we are facing in Ghana are not peculiar to Ghana, pointing out that, “It should also be stressed that several governments in both developed and developing countries are busily coming out with various prescriptions to bring their economies back on track, after the devastating impact of COVID-19 which distorted global supply chains, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war”.
He explained that Ghana like most countries in the world had a tall list of coronavirus-induced bills to pay from 2020 and 2021 and came out with plans and policies to boost investor confidence and job prospects for 2022 and beyond.
“As you recall, we lost Ghs13.1 billion of revenue and had to increase our expenditure by GHS14.2 billion with a combined fiscal impact of GHS26 billion (6.8% of GDP)”, he noted.
On some of the challenges facing the Government, he cited the unyielding stance of the Minority in Parliament against the E-levy that could gravely affect investor confidence in Ghana’s capacity to implement its programmes and settle debts, triggering a downgrading by credit rating agencies, and leave the cedi vulnerable as Ghana could not access the International Capital Market.
Again, on the international front, the launch of the attack on Ukraine by Russia after the devastation wreaked by the Coronavirus pandemic had disturbed the supply chain, surged inflation, and created uncertainties in the financial markets.
To address the adverse impact of the domestic and international challenges the country was facing, the MP said the government has taken measures to address the challenges which included some spending cuts.
Other measures to ensure the achievement of the fiscal deficit of 7.4% of GDP for 2022 included a 50% cut in fuel coupon allocations for all political appointees and Heads of Government institutions, including SOEs, effective 1st April 2022 and imposition of a complete moratorium on the purchase of imported vehicles for the rest of the year. This will affect all new orders, especially 4-wheel drives.
Again, Government has imposed a moratorium on all foreign travels, except pre-approved critical/statutory travels, government will conclude ongoing measures to eliminate “ghost” workers from the Government payroll by end of December 2022 and conclude the renegotiations of the Energy Sector IPPs capacity charges by end of Q3-2022 to further reduce excess capacity payments by 20% to generate a total savings of GHS1.5 billion.
Source: expressnewsghana.com
Send your news stories and articles to expressnewsgh@gmail.com or via WhatsApp at +233 0543 900 732
About Author
