The Ghana Revenue Authority collected about GH¢440 million from e-commerce businesses in the country since the introduction of taxes on their services in the second half of 2022.
The Authority has disclosed that about 110 firms have registered on the portal and paying their taxes.
According to the Commissioner General of the GRA, the tax ratio is experiencing some astronomical growth as many businesses have been registered in the last few months.
“We have established an online portal which many online businesses have registered and I’m sure some of you have come across getting VAT whenever you do a Google transaction. And I must mention that in the last six months, we have collected about ¢440 million from some of these e-commerce platforms”, Rev. Dr. Ammisshadai Owusu Amoah said when he spoke at the the 11th Annual International Tax Conference in Accra, last week.
“Now these platforms work through payment providers in Ghana which are also required to register with the Central Bank and given some additional requirements that must be met before being able to carry out their businesses” he noted.
Speaking on behalf of the president of Ghana, Senior Presidential Advisor, Yaw Osarfo Marfo appealed to the Institute of Taxation Ghana to partner with the Ghana Education Service to formulate policies on tax education.
“Let us end this conference with some recommendations and I want to appeal to the Institute of Taxation Ghana to forge a relationship with the Ministry of Education to come up with some teachings on taxation, from the basic level where everyone will feel the patriotism to pay taxes without being asked to do so” he requested.
President of the Institute, George Ohene Kwatia urged members to enhance their understanding of the country’s tax laws and encourage voluntary payments.
The economic alliance between Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) may witness a new admission from among African countries as Ghana is keenly showing interest to join the bloc.
Sources within government has affirmed that informal discussions have started towards exploring the feasibility of Ghana joining the BRICS economic bloc.
President Nana Akufo-Addo recently joined over 40 other Heads of State to attend the 15th BRICS Summit raising concerns as to whether or not the country is turning its back on the foreign policy of positive neutrality which saw the country in the past not aligning to any of the world’s superpowers. However, Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, has said the decision to join or not will be informed by national interest.
“It’s beyond doubt that BRICS is now a force to reckon with. If you look at the countries it started with, four, today we’ve been told that they met and have accepted 6 more [Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE],” Charles Owiredu had said during an exclusively interview with JoyNews on the sidelines of the summit held in Johannesburg South Africa.
“The combined GDP is now 30 percent of Global GDP within these 11 countries so they are a force to reckon with.”
When asked if Ghana was considering making a formal application to join the Economic Bloc, Mr Owiredu intimated “We’ve been discussing amongst ourselves when the president came.”
“There’s been some discussions that we started looking at some opportunities that exist within as BRICS, you know already they do have the development bank that countries have started accessing credit and it is helping a lot of countries to develop” while adding The president has started looking at it but “a decision has not been taken yet.”
The High Commissioner however dispelled suggestions that Ghana is being lured by the posture of other West African countries such as Nigeria which have formally applied to join BRICS adding that whatever eventual decision the president will make will be guided by the sole needs of the Ghanaian people.
The bloc, which accounts for over 40% of the world population, is on an intensive membership expansion drive to admit new countries from among emerging economies, especially in Africa.
Cuurent global economic trends is pushing Ghana government to apply for membership as Nigeria did recently. It is rumored that Ghana is been pushed to join BRICS by China which controls over a third of the country’s external debt amounting to some US$1.7 billion.
Economist, Dr Kwame Pianim, has rubbished calls for the resignation of the Bank of Ghana Governor and his deputies.
The calls were led by the Minority in Parliament base on the claim that, the central bank wrongfully financed the government.
But, the renowned economist has said that, Dr. Ernest Addison and his two deputies did nothing wrong for supporting an ailing economy. According to him, the Governor’s resignation would not solve any problem, adding, the economic crisis was not caused by the Bank of Ghana.
“The Governor and his team did not perpetuate any fraud and therefore assertions of incompetence and mismanagement of the economy is neither here nor there”, Dr Pianim argued when he spoke to the media in Accra, last week.
“Resignation doesn’t solve any problem. If the Governor resigns now, what happens, the same Minister of Finance [Ken Ofori-Atta] who is at the core of the economic crises recommends to the same president [Akufo-Addo] a new person? They appoint somebody who doesn’t know the terrain, who hasn’t gone through this experience to be able to solve the problem, No.
“What I am saying is that was it through incompetence, No. Not incompetence. Was it through fraud? Did the Governor benefit? Did any of his company benefit from what he did? No.”, the renowned economists pointed out.
Dr. Pianim furthered that BoG did nothing wrong for not going to Parliament before supporting the government to revive a struggling economy.
According to him, the BoG did not need any parliamentary approval before supporting an ailing economy.
“I don’t recall that they [BoG] need parliamentary approval. Remember, we suspended the Fiscal Responsibility Act. When the fiscal responsibility was removed it was saying in effect, we cannot obey the regulations that we have governing the fiscal, so we are suspending it”.
“When the Minister of Finance went to parliament and they agreed to suspend the Fiscal Responsibility Act, parliament should have asked, what happens to the equivalent that is the Monetary Policy Act which is Article 36 of the Amendment BoG Act which says that if there is an emergency and BoG needs to be able to suspend the rules surrounding monetary policy what they do is to inform the Minister of Finance”, he explained.
To him, “it is the Minister for Finance’s responsibility to report to parliament. We didn’t make BoG responsible to go to parliament. So when the Minister of Finance went to parliament to suspend the Fiscal Responsibility Act, somebody from the opposition should have asked, what happened to Article 36 of the Banking Act. And the Minister should have said concurrently that part is also suspended because you cannot suspend the Fiscal Responsibility Act and leave the complimentary dimensions on the monetary policy side”.
Ghana’s fiat currency is likely to remain stable at the back of the implementation of the International Monetary Fund, (IMF) program.
The Bank of Ghana is expecting the second tranche of the IMF Extended Credit Facility by November, in addition to the cocoa loan syndication as well as the World Bank support for the Ghana Financial Stability Fund.
All these monies will support the stability of the local currency and also meet the dollar demands of importers for the festive season.
Also, the positive sentiments from the full implementation of the IMF programme may continue to shore up the currency.
The Ghana cedi has been relatively stable since February 2023, after depreciating sharply in January.
The gains made by the cedi was on the back of positive sentiments over the IMF programme; disbursement of the first tranche of the ECF, which amounted to US$600 million; weakened demand pressures; weakness in the US dollar; forex purchases from the mining and oil sectors; and forex liquidity support through the BDCs FX auction.
The Ghana cedi cumulatively depreciated by 22.0 percent, 26.3 percent and 23.8 percent against the US dollar, the pound sterling and the euro, respectively, in June 2023. This was against a cumulative depreciation of 16.9 percent, 7.7 percent and 9.9 percent against the US dollar, the pound sterling and the euro, respectively, during the same period in 2022.
The Ghana cedi has generally remained stable since January 2023, with a cumulative depreciation of 1.8 percent between February and June 2023
The Ghana cedi has depreciated by 30.7 percent in nominal trade weighted terms and 28.6 percent on forex transaction weighted terms on a year-to-date basis. This was against a depreciation of 12.0 percent and 19.4 percent in nominal trade weighted terms and nominal foreign exchange transaction weighted terms, respectively, over the same period in 2022.
The cedi depreciated by 18.4 percent and 16.6 percent in real trade weighted terms and real forex transaction weighted terms, respectively, on a year-to-date basis. This compared with an appreciation of 3.2 percent in real trade weighted terms and a depreciation of 3.0 percent in real forex transaction weighted terms for the same period in 2022.
The Bank of Ghana, (BoG), is likely to continue tightening the policy rate although inflation is expected to decline in the near term.
According to the central bank, the baseline forecasts show a slightly higher elevated profile in the year ahead, which, if not contained, could embed in underlying inflationary pressures. It is important that policy responds appropriately and decisively to prevent these risks from becoming embedded and consequently derailing the disinflation process.
The Bank of Ghana has disclosed that year on year inflation would settle at 29+/-3 percent and further decline to 19+/-2 by the end of 2024.
The risks to the inflation profile were judged to be elevated as at July 2023, driven by second-round effects of food prices. Inflation has persistently hovered around 42 percent throughout the second quarter of 2023, even though central bank financing has been eliminated in the first six months of the year.
These developments require decisive fiscal and monetary tightening to anchor inflation expectations firmly on a declining path.
The headline inflation declined consistently between January to April but increased in May and June on account of a variety of factors, including higher food prices, implementation of new tax measures, and utility tariff adjustments.
The overall inflation increased from 41.2 percent in April to 42.2 percent in May, then further to 42.5 percent in June and to 43.1percent in July. Underlying measures of inflation have all ticked up in May 2023. While core inflation picked up, consumer and business inflation expectations also increased slightly, while bank’s inflation expectations remained flat, but at an elevated level.
The food inflation inched up to 54.2 percent in June 2023 from 51.8 percent in May and 48.7 percent in April. Non-food inflation, in contrast, declined to 33.4 percent in June 2023 from 34.6 percent in May and 35.4 percent in April.
Imported inflation inched up to 44.5 percent in June from 43.8 percent in May. This was in contrast to local inflation, which declined to 35.9 percent in June from 36.2 percent in May.
However, the month on month, inflation slowed to 3.2 percent in June 2023 from 4.8 percent in May 2023. Monthly food inflation eased to 3.9 percent in June 2023 from 6.2 percent in May.
Likewise, monthly non-food inflation eased to 2.6 percent, from 3.5 percent over the same period. Core inflation also inched up in the May and June. Core inflation, excluding energy and utility prices, increased to 43.5 percent in June 2023, from 42.8 percent in May, and 41.7 percent in April.
Business and consumer inflation expectations also inched up slightly, while banking sector inflation expectations remained flat. The increase in headline inflation since the last MPC meeting reflected strong food price pressures, implementation of new tax measures, and utility tariff adjustments.
These pressures were moderated by relative exchange rate stability, stable ex-pump petroleum prices, and the tight monetary policy stance that is supported by effective liquidity management by the Bank of Ghana.
As generally known, Hon Julius Debrah began his political journey as a grassroot activist, labored through thick and thin amid patience and dedication from the branch level politicking, scaling through to the national level to become such a colossus.
Distinctively, his admirable personality traits are not only confirmed to hearsays but then again, the hundreds of people who come into contact with him daily, bear eloquent testimony to his extraordinary talent; ie a *phenomenon best felt than describe and a priceless pearl whose kind is yet to be seen*
Beyond doubt, the vibrant and charismatic Julius Debrah has progressively garnered unsurpassed knowledge and experience that have and rightly so, placed him far and above the shoulders of his supposed competitors.
Refreshingly, his ability to push boundaries and create memories of impact resonate perfectly with our newfound energy as catalysts of change and architects of our own destiny as we stand united than before with an unyielding resolve.
In our otherwise turbulence political environment, Julius is considered an ‘oasis of peace’, a beacon of hope and a ‘breath of fresh air’ in whom we are well pleased, having always been and remained a listening ear to our collective needs.
The immutable synergy between H.E. John Mahama (JM) and Hon Julius Debrah (JD) is so inspiring and healthy for the strengthening and sustenance of our internal cohesion, anchored in the belief that, the widely expected JM & JD ticket would undisputably be the perfect pair to re-capture political power.
A branch executive of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called on the flagbearer of the party, John Mahama, and the Council of Elders the age factor of the next running mate for the 2024 elections.
The executive also drew attention to the political-charisma of the persona of the picked candidate to help in brightening the chances of the NDC.
These two factors are keep for NDC’s success and perpetuality in election 2024 and beyond. In an analytical article shared by the Branch Youth Organiser in the Mankesim area in the Central Region, battressed that, succession planning must and should be a key factor in the choice of running mate for the NDC.
“With the Party’s quest to hold political power at least for 12 years, the Party desperately needs someone who can also do an eight(8)year term easily without the hindrance of age or physical weakness”, Kwame Prince said.
“Succession planning must and should be a key factor in the choice of running mate for the NDC and that alone easily eliminates Prof. Naana Opoku Agyemang from the conversation without prejudice to her competencies and personal achievements as an academician.”
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LOOK INTO NDC’s NEXT RUNNING MATE
The NDC is at a crossroads again, after completing almost all its internal elections and appointments, the race for a running mate for His Excellency John Mahama has heated up.
A few days ago there was a Press Conference by some group of men and women in the Party urging His Excellency John Mahama to retain Prof.Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang as his running mate in what could easily be described as a desperate attempt to strong-arm the former President to retain his choice of running mate in the 2024 elections.
First of all, whoever financed that Press Conference did a disservice to Prof.Naana Jane and I’m sure it’s the same people behind her appearance on RadioGold last week for about 3 hours.
In the build-up to the 2020 elections, nobody forced his Excellency to go with Prof.Jane as his running mate. Nobody mounted media pressure on His Excellency to choose her.
Amidst the vile opposition of the Party leadership his Excellency himself sat down and came to the decision that he wanted to run with her and he defended that decision all through.
So why is anybody in their right sense now attempting to mount pressure on His Excellency to run with her again?
His Excellency is an experienced politician and knows what he wants.
Secondly, the running mate is not a permanent position for anybody. If history will be our guide, the NDC has never repeated a Running Mate in opposition.
In 2000, Prof.Mills ran with Martin Amidu and lost, in 2004 he went with Mohammed Mummuni and lost again then in 2008, John Mahama was brought in to complete the magic wand that landed the NDC its tight victory.
The candidate is at liberty to change his running mate’s anytime based on the strategy he intends to go into the elections with.
Again let’s gladly assess the impact of Prof.Naana as a running mate.
The NDC in 2020 won the Parliamentary majority in her home region Central Region but lost out massively in the presidential Why?
The NDC played the women’s card strongly in 2020, based on the outcome of the elections it’s very clear the gender card had little impact on the outcome.
No Party in Ghana loses an election if the women are on your side. What this tells us is that, apart from a few gender activists in Accra who may laud your choice of gender, the choice itself has little influence on how a majority of women would vote in the elections.
So, in essence, Prof.Naana’s candidature as a female running mate did not benefit the NDC electorally, Apart from that she has done very little since 2020 to improve her image making it very difficult to sell her to the electorates, her appearance in public functions, her demeanor and her inability to connect with people are all one of the many factors the NDC must be bold enough to admit, and I’m sure his Excellency himself can see that now.
Again what’s her capacity to attract funding and financial support for the campaign? It’s very easy to say that even the business community doesn’t find her appealing enough to put money behind her, it’s almost certain that she cannot raise funds even to fund her activities as running mate and had to rely on support from the office of the flagbearer.
Going into 2024 money is going to play a critical role, and His Excellency cannot afford another financial distraction.
He needs someone who can afford to raise money on his or her own to fund his or her activities without relying on the little donations his Excellency may get.
Then her age, she’s 73, and by December 2028 she will be 78, almost 80. In an election where the candidate, His Excellency has one term, it would be almost suicidal to run with someone this age.
With the Party’s quest to hold political power at least for 12 years, the Party desperately needs someone who can also do an eight(8)year term easily without the hindrance of age or physical weakness.
Succession planning must and should be a key factor in the choice of running mate for the NDC and that alone easily eliminates Prof. Naana Opoku Agyemang from the conversation without prejudice to her competencies and personal achievements as an academician.
Finally, finally, 2016 and 2020 have taught the NDC that John Mahama is very popular within the Party and any day can bring at least 98% of the NDC’s 6 million traditional voters to the table.
What has been lacking for him is a complementary candidate that would bring at least 20-30% of the floating voters to tilt the election in his favor.
At least for now, I have so much confidence in His Excellency that he appreciates the seriousness of the next elections and would not gamble with his choice.
He would be a great choice eventually and the party will move on to win the next elections and his legacy will continue.
I rest my case.
If you enjoyed reading cheers, if you didn’t sorry for the inconvenience!!
TEAM SAGLEMI NOT FOR SALE JOINS THE NDC AHEAD OF THE ADDISON MUST GO DEMONSTRATION
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It has become relevant on the calendar of Team Saglemi Not For Sale to collaborate the unwavering efforts of the National Democratic congress in their undefiled determination and bid to demonstrate humongously against the inept administration of BOG Dr Addison’s led leadership especially on the recent gargantuan loss of over GHS 60billion owing to corruption, lawlessness and inept leadership.
1. Team Saglemi firmly holds the position of the NDC that the B.O.G boss must resign immediately together with his team of directors for the GHS60.8 billion loss they have caused this country.
2. Mr Addison together with his team of directors following the resignation must be arraigned before court for violating and contravening the Financial management act 5% treashold of printing money to cushion the central government especially when some transactions didn’t receive parliamentary approval
3.Bank of Ghana must officially apologize to Ghanaians for their infamous act of collapsing our indigenous banks and other financial institutions. They have made more humiliating losses than them.
4. More importantly, as the convener for Team Saglemi Not For Sale, I officially wish to declare solidarity and our unflinching stance to be part of the impending patriotic struggle targeted at corruption and greed
Fitch Solutions has prompted to assign positive ratings to parameters of Ghana’s economy if the debt-riddened West African nation is able to restructure it’s pension funds .
Ghana’s LTLC IDR rating will be contingent on a forward-looking evaluation of the country’s commitment and ability to meet its local-currency debt obligations, the international rating agency said.
“Once Fitch judges Ghana has normalised relations with a significant majority of non-tendered securities bondholders and completes the restructuring of local-currency bonds held by pension funds, the agency will assign Ghana’s LTLC IDR based on a forward-looking assessment of its willingness and capacity to honour its local-currency debt”, Fitch said.
It added that “once Ghana reaches an agreement with private creditors on the restructuring of its foreign-currency-denominated debt and completes that restructuring process following the Common Framework official creditors’ claims treatment, Fitch will assign a LTFC IDR based on a forward-looking assessment of its willingness and capacity to honour its foreign-currency debt”.
This, too, will be determined based on an assessment of Ghana’s willingness and capability to fulfill its foreign-currency debt commitments.
The agency cautioned that a downgrade for Ghana could transpire if there is an elevated risk of the country failing to make its first coupon payments on the bonds scheduled for August 2023.
Fitch employs its proprietary Sovereign Rating Model (SRM), which rates Ghana akin to ‘CCC+’ on the Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR scale.
It is important to note that the current ratings are not accompanied by the SRM and Qualitative Overlay (QO) explanations, as Fitch’s sovereign rating committee has chosen to adhere to the rating definitions for scores ‘CCC+’ and below.
The SRM model developed by Fitch employs a comprehensive approach, factoring in 18 variables over a three-year period, including one year of projections.
This methodology generates a score that corresponds to the LT FC IDR rating.
The Public Interest Accountability Committee (PIAC) has been urged to take the lead in advocating the revision of existing petroleum agreements, aiming to increase Ghana’s benefits from its oil production.
Although, the government’s intent to enhance the nation’s stake in the extractive sector is widely known, the Deputy Finance Minister acknowledges that, there are “interests and limitations” that complicate altering the terms of existing agreements.
On regular basis, there have been inquiries by stakeholders into why Ghana’s interest in the extractive industries is capped at 10 or 20 percent of the resources, rather than higher percentages like 55 or 60 percent.
“By raising such concerns with conviction through PIAC’s efforts, the nation could potentially witness changes in these terms”, Dr John Kumah believes.
Despite the challenges posed by existing contracts, Dr Kumah expressed that with determination, change remains feasible.
These sentiments were expressed during the launch event for a new PIAC logo, a redesigned website, and a data dashboard. The new logo, featuring an oil rig, an oil drop, and the Ghana cedi sign, mirrors PIAC’s objectives and functions.
The logo’s black color symbolises crude oil, while gold (yellow) signifies wealth.
The website revamp and data dashboard reflect PIAC’s commitment to enhancing public engagement, augmenting its visibility, gathering feedback, and providing straightforward access to petroleum sector information.
The data dashboard serves as an interactive platform, displaying statistics on oil and gas production, receipts, and revenue allocation.
Dr Kumah acknowledged PIAC’s role in supporting national development by managing and utilising oil revenue effectively.
Dr Kumah emphasised that the government perceives PIAC’s activities as complementary to national development goals, aiming to harness oil resources for the nation’s benefit.
He encouraged constructive criticism that contributes to systemic improvements.
PIAC Chairman Professor Kwame Adom-Frimpong, in response, urged the government to allocate financial resources to support the committee’s statutory responsibilities.
