Despite the current economic situation, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said the government would find the necessary finances to support the country’s infrastructure projects.
Nana Akufo-Addo stated the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a huge blow to the country’s fiscal condition during a meeting with some chiefs from the Dzodze Traditional Area in the Volta Region.
He explained that because so many people were afflicted by the pandemic, the government was compelled to make unanticipated expenditures such as providing free water, food, and power, among other things, to keep the economy from collapsing completely.
“Revenues decreased significantly in 2020 and 2021 as a result of the COVID’s slowing down of economic activity,” he said. “At the same time, the government had to incur additional expenditures in order to keep the country running; free water, free electricity, and free food were unavoidable expenses that the government had to make.”
Regardless of the circumstances, he stressed, his government will do everything possible to guarantee that its development plan is not hampered.
Due to the country’s terrible economic circumstances and limited access to the international financial market, it has turned to internal revenue mobilization methods, such as the divisive E-charge, which aims to levy a 1.75 percent tax on all electronic financial transactions.
Since it was initially introduced by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta in December 2021 at the reading of the 2022 Budget, the E-levy has been the topic of various debates.
The majority and minority caucuses in Parliament have been unable to achieve an agreement on whether the E-levy should be abolished or continued.
While the minority is opposed, the majority has stated its support for it and their desire to see it through, claiming that the country has no other option but to levy the E-levy to gather the necessary funds to sustain the country’s development.
Source: GhanaWish.com
