Support passage of E-Levy to raise more revenue - Adu Boahen urges AGI

The Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Mr Charles Adu Boahen, has urged industries to support the passage of the electronic transaction levy bill (E-Levy) to raise more revenue for development.

“This month, we will go back to the floor of Parliament with the E-Levy bill and ensure that it is passed by the end of the month,” he said.

The call comes ahead of the expected resumption of Parliament on January 25, when the passage of the E-levy bill will again take centre stage in the House.

The bill, when passed into law, will impose a 17.5 per cent charge on digital transactions, including mobile money (momo), to raise revenue to support projects such as road infrastructure, entrepreneurship, youth employment, cyber security and digital infrastructure.

The process to pass the bill into law was halted during the last days of sitting of the 8th Parliament following disagreements between the Majority and the Minority sides.

Mr Adu Boahen was speaking at the investiture and dinner of the new President and Council Members of the AGI in Accra last Friday.

Swearing in

At the event, Dr Humphrey Kwesi Ayim Darke was sworn in as President of the AGI, along with Mr Ashok Mohinani as Vice-President (large-scale firms); Mrs Grace Amey-Obeng, Vice-President (SMEs); Mr Ralph Ayittey, Treasurer, and 35 council members.

They were sworn in by a Supreme Court judge, Mrs Gertrude Torkornoo, who urged them to institute measures that would promote the development of industries.

The immediate past President of the AGI, Dr Yaw Adu Gyamfi, presented the gavel of leadership to Dr Darke.

The new council will steer the affairs of the association for the next two years.

The AGI is an advocacy body for manufacturers, with a mission to carry out proactive support services for the industrial sector to contribute to its growth.

Manufacturing hub

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kyerematen, said the government was committed to making Ghana a manufacturing hub in West Africa.

As a result, he said, it was implementing a 10-point agenda on industrial transformation to make the country self-sufficient and capable of producing its own products.

“We will continue with the agenda of rapid industrialisation, with the aim of transforming the structure of the economy from the production and export of raw materials to a value-added, industrialised economy,” he added.

Crossroads

For his part, Dr Darke said Ghana was at the crossroads of its industrialisation agenda, adding: “We have the option to take a path that spearheads us into massive industrial development or take another path to become an even more import-driven economy.”

He said the government had opted for the industrialisation path, and “we in the AGI believe that this path is one of the surest ways of creating sustainable jobs and ensuring economic growth in the medium to long term”.

Dr Darke, however, raised concerns over the introduction of the benchmark reduction policy, which seeks to reduce the cost of imports into the country.

“After two years of implementation, it appears that it is detrimental to the development of industries in the country. Furthermore, it is at variance with the government’s own industrialisation agenda,” he said.