The government of Ghana has cried over the failure of the Electronic Service Tax (E-LEVY) to meet the required revenue target after its rollout on May 1, 2022.
According to the de facto Prime Minister, Gabby Otchere Darko, the country has failed to meet its revenue target even after the E-levy has been rolled out.
In a tweet, Gabby Otchere Darko intimated that only a paltry 10% of estimated revenue has been generated so far.
He also criticized Ghanaians for being so hard on the government for introducing the E-levy considering the fact that it has not yielded much.
Gabby Octhere Darko bemoaned Ghana’s ballooning debt stock, inflation and high cost of living.
After 5 months of stalemate and bashing, the e-levy, after implementation, is delivering only 10% of estimated revenues; our revenues remain very low as compared to the rest of the world; debt levels are dangerously high, cedi, like most currencies, struggling against the US dollar…
Meanwhile, it has been speculated widely that the government of Ghana is considering going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout following the increasing debt stock and the worsening economic situation.
Gabby Otchere Darko asserted that the E-LEVY has failed to salvage Ghana from going to the IMF.
He wrote:
What options are open to the government? The question should rather be: what option if adopted, will re-inject investor confidence in our economy? Even if we find the $3-5 billion required, will that help? E-levy which was to have given us some 600m by now has done less than 60m.
There’s, understandably, a national aversion to an IMF program, because of the history of conditionalities which attack sacred cows like jobs and social interventions. Akufo-Addo will not sacrifice free SHS and other critical welfare policies to help the poor for any assistance.
Yes, our revenue to GDP ratio is among the lowest in the world (even in Africa!); but with the current global hardships, and the cost of living rising everywhere in the world, a decision by any govt to intensify taxation measures, especially for workers may not be too clever.
Ghana is a member of the IMF. The world is in serious crisis. Ours is not helped by our high debt and low income levels. With the economy still growing, but investor confidence low, govt being compelled to cut down capital expenditures will eventually lead to job losses unless…
I am not for an IMF program that throws peanuts at us but imposes conditions that will end up hurting the poor, jobs and businesses more. Covid-19 and War in Ukraine are not of Africa’s doing but more to our doom. A program that pretends it is all our doing is doomed to fail
 to meet the required revenue target after its rollout on May 1, 2022.){kind=link}