What A UN Affiliate Thinks About E-Levy in Ghana: Could Be Overwhelming for Businessmen

The UN Capital Development Fund makes it possible to unlock both public and private finance issues of least developed countries. They have made wonderful thoughts towards the introduction of E-levy in Ghana.

The UNCDP compared the current E-levy with other African Countries. In Uganda, they indicated that there were lots of backlashes from the people of Uganda during the introduction of an E-levy. Eventually, when it was rolled out, there was a reduction of 0.5% applied to only individuals withdrawing. It is therefore possible that, Ghana may make some percentage reductions for a particular group of stakeholders.

Also, it was identified that in Uganda the levy had a negative impact on the vulnerable in the society. These vulnerable individuals have been well considered based on the 100 Ghana Cedis waiver introduced by the Ghana Government.

Also, the introduction of e-levy in Nigeria was estimated to make about 1.13 billion US dollars. It was identified by the world bank that, the national revenue of Nigeria in 2021 would be stabilized. They also identified that Nigeria experienced a recession but growth resumed in 2021 with oil prices recovering, and policies implemented to mitigate economic shock. Thus, this was experienced after the introduction of an E-levy.

Therefore, the E-levy may surely provide a national revenue for the government of Ghana, but would it surely help recover Ghana from its budget deficit.

It has been identified that the initiation of e-levy in Ghana rides on the magnificent success of mobile money in the country. Ghana recorded about 80 billion Ghana Cedis value on mobile money transactions in 2021. This made it a fast-growing mobile money market in Africa.

Therefore, this illustrates that the success of the mobile money industry is going to be used to reduce the budget deficit of the Government of Ghana.

There may be a drastic reduction in the use of mobile money transactions. This was identified when there were panic withdrawals after the announcement of the e-levy. This will make most mobile money registered agents show consistent displeasure on the government's decision on passing e-levy as a bill.

The opportunity to pay for products and services merchant payment options may be a luxury. Thus, there would be an additional levy on your products purchased.

Electronic Bank transactions may also be a luxury. Banks processing large amounts of transactions such as salary payments, P2P, B2B, and B2G payments with charges that depend on the type of transaction, will add up to high transaction costs. The introduction of E-levy would reduce the volume and value of these transactions at the bank. This may potentially reduce the usage of financial products offered by banks.

Charging for remittances could result in double charges. Thus, when the remittance ends on a mobile money wallet, there is a higher chance that the sender, as well as the receiver, would be charged.

By Simplifier (Self-Media Writer)-uncdf.org