Sell loss-making SOEs instead of E-Levy - Kofi Bentil advises government

Public-spirited intellectual and Senior Vice President of policy think tank Imani Africa Kofi Bentil has advised the Government to raise revenue through the sale of 50% of loss-making State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) rather than seek to implement the much controversial electronic transactions levy (E-Levy).

His suggestion to the Government follows revelations that about 50% of SOEs posted huge losses for the 2020 fiscal year.

About half of all State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) posted a ¢5.3 billion loss in their operations in the 2020 fiscal year, the Finance Ministry reported.

The solution to this, the Finance Ministry said, will be to cut support to any SOE that report losses.

But in the opinion of Mr Bentil, selling them off will ensure that Government raises revenue as well as save money it normally doles out to these inefficient enterprises.

“We should sell 50% of all SOEs. We will immediately make money and save money at once. And not need e-levy,” he recommended.

The insistence of the Government on passing the E-Levy bill into law and implementing it continues to rile many, who maintain that the tax is needless and will only impose further hardship on ordinary citizens.