In an attempt to raise revenue through home-grown policies to address the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic and other external shocks on the Ghanaian economy, government sought to introduce the Electronic Transaction Bill (e-levy) in the 2022 Budget statement; a move aimed at widening the tax net and raising $1.15billion annually.
The introduction of the tax, like any other tax, however, attracted backlash from a section of Ghanaians. The Ministry of Finance, as part of its mechanism to engage other stakeholders, organized various town hall meetings across the country to address the concerns that characterized the discussions. Key among the concerns raised was the seeming revenue leakages which threatened to undermine efforts to raise revenue domestically.
In response to the concerns raised over revenue leakages, after the successful passing of the e-levy, the Minister of Finance has shown commitment to addressing revenue leakages at the various revenue collection points in the country, through the conduct of mystery checks at the Tema port on Wednesday 6th April 2022. The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta was accompanied by the National Security Coordinator, Major General Francis Adu Amanfo the Deputy National Security Coordinator, Edward Asomani and the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Reverend Ammishaddai Owusu- Amoah.
The Minister and his team assessed operations at the Port to inform strategy formulation towards enhancing efficiency and promoting the revenue generation capacity of government. With renewed efforts at plugging the revenue leakages at the port, Ghana stands to be the ultimate beneficiary. It is anticipated that the successful implementation of strategies aimed at addressing loopholes at the port would expedite the post-pandemic recovery of the Ghanaian economy.
