Parliament has passed four revenue bills presented by the government aimed at generating about GH¢4 billion (approximately $340 million) annually to boost domestic revenue mobilisation in the country.
The bills, which were passed by 137-136 majority decision included the Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2022, the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill 2022, the Ghana Revenue Authority Bill 2022, and the Income Tax Amendment Bill 2022.
The new tax measures are crucial for facilitating the Board Approval of the $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) Programme staff-level agreement reached with Government of Ghana about three months ago.
In line with this, government has also completed tariff adjustments by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission, published the Auditor-General’s Report on COVID-19 spending, and onboarded the Ghana Education Trust Fund, District Assemblies Common Fund, and Road Fund on the Ghana integrated financial management information system.
International and domestic bond markets are currently unavailable for government programme financing, leaving Treasury Bills and concessional loans as the primary sources of funding for the 2023 fiscal year.
Disagreements
Ahead of the crucial vote on Friday, the minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament, resisted the passing of the bills.
This, according to the caucus, will send a bold statement to the government that it cannot be reckless with its expenditure and expect Ghanaians to pay the price.
However, government has insisted it has not been reckless with its expenditure, stressing that the introduction of taxes was a necessary measure to aid recovery from the current economic crisis.
New approval period
Ghana, which had hoped to receive approval for the IMF support package by the end of March, is now targeting an agreement by the end of April after bilateral creditors have given the necessary financial assurances.
The country is also in talks with private creditors after unilaterally suspending payments on $13 billion of Eurobonds.
