GHANA: Gov’t scraps IMF-linked taxes

Ghana’s new government on Tuesday announced it was scrapping several Covid-era taxes introduced in an effort to secure IMF financing, citing the economic hardship placed on ordinary citizens. Five taxes deemed “nuisance levies” by the current government – including a one-per cent levy on mobile money transfers and a value-added tax on motor vehicle insurance […]

Ghana’s new government on Tuesday announced it was scrapping several Covid-era taxes introduced in an effort to secure IMF financing, citing the economic hardship placed on ordinary citizens.
Five taxes deemed “nuisance levies” by the current government – including a one-per cent levy on mobile money transfers and a value-added tax on motor vehicle insurance – are being cancelled, Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson said, presenting the government’s 2025 budget.
With the economy in “severe distress” – in part from debt mismanagement and financing shortfalls – concerns quickly emerged over how the government planned to close the resulting revenue shortfall.
Authorities say they are seeking to help Ghanaians struggling with soaring inflation and a depreciating currency and will introduce alternative measures to enhance tax collection.
“The removal of these taxes will ease the burden on households and improve their disposable incomes,” Forson told lawmakers in the capital Accra. “In addition, it will support business growth.”
The other scrapped levies are a 10-per cent tax on lottery winnings, an emission levy on industries and vehicles and a 1.5-per cent tax on unprocessed gold from small-scale miners.