The Minister for Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta has urged Ghanaians to support the government efforts at building a resilient, dynamic and prosperous nation.
He said this when he addressed a Town Hall Meeting in Sekondi in the Western Region to stimulate a buy-in on the government’s proposed e-levy.
The event comes off a week after the first public engagement on the e-levy in Koforidua in the Eastern Region.
He said it was important for citizens to put all hands-on deck and play a part in the development of the country.
Touching on the reason for the e-levy, Mr Ofori-Atta said before Covid-19, the government had set all the economic indicators right for accelerated development and structural transformation.
“We went through 2017 to 2019 with incredibly stellar results on what we as a country achieved, moving from 3.4% of growth to an average of 7%; reducing our budget deficit from 6.5% into about 5%; making sure our currency did not depreciate as it used to be and it is now quite stable; and also have the necessary foreign exchange cover to make sure that we can support our currency and our imports,” he stated.
However, the minister noted that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the economy faced the most testing time, which now calls for a collective effort to raise local revenue for development.
“Given our elevated public debt stock due to the pandemic, our path forward in economic management is to prioritize domestic revenue mobilization rather than borrowing to fund the budget,” he said.
On her part, the Central Regional Minister, Mrs Justina Marigold Assan, said the government needed to devise ways of generating revenue to support the economy instead of borrowing.
According to her, the e-levy would ensure that the formal and informal sectors contribute their quota to develop the country.
Patience Anaadem, ISD
