The Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta has called on Ghanaians to take matters of national development into their own hands by helping Government close the revenue gap in the annual budgets.
Government has proposed an electronic levy of 1.75% of transfers to help reduce the country’s debt and deficit while enabling it fund the growing demands of the Ghanaian people.
The e-levy has become the subject of public debate following the Minority NDCs disapproval of it in parliament.
But Government officials who have been touring the country for town hall meetings organized by the Ministry of Information say it is the way to raise revenue to help develop infrastructure, jobs and social interventions.
At the second town hall meeting at the Sekondi Takoradi Youth hall on Wednesday 2nd February 2022, the finance minister argued that the time has come for Ghanaians to step up their contribution towards paying for the demands they make. He explained that as a sovereign country, it is important for Ghana to be the master of its own destiny by mobilizing more local resources to pay for the things we demand.
He said the days when Ghana looked to international partners to bailed out or fund development agenda are over.
“We are the ones who have to mobilize our own resources to fund the development we want. Our sovereignty and dignity requires that we look inward and see how to pay up and make the Ghanaian vision a reality.” He said.
IMF
Andrew Mercer, MP for Sekondi and Deputy Minister for Energy responding to calls that government should forget the revenue effort and instead go the the IMF for a bailout, said an IMF bailout is an additional loan that will further deepen Ghana’s debt challenges and at the same time add restrictions to Government spending in critical sectors of the economy.
He said the IMF bailout proposal being touted is not the answer to Ghana’s challenges. He called on Ghanaians to support the e-levy in order to make the dreams of the people of Ghana a reality.