Reduce E-levy to 0.1% — CEO Of Ghana Telecoms Chamber Dr. Ashigbey to gov't

Dr. Ken Ashigbey, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Telecommunications Chamber has called on the government to reduce the electronic transactions levy (E-levy) from 1.5% to 0.1%.

He said the introduction of the e-levy at 1.5% has proven counterproductive to the government and the development of Ghana's digital economy.

According to him, a total scrap of the tax measure would be insensitive considering the government’s dire need for money amidst economic turmoil but reducing it to 0.1% would revamp the digital economy thus generating more revenue for the government.

Speaking on JoyNews, he said Our proposition is the fact that you know, they should scrap it. But we need to be real, government needs money at this particular stage. The deficit position is not good for the industry, it affects the industry, and it's one of the things that would account for the depreciation of the cedi. The macros would be destabilized.

He added: So we think that the best thing to do is to reduce the level. Some in the industry have talked about 0.5, but I have said that the best thing to do is to do 0.1%.

READ MORE: E-levy: MoMo transactions drop again

Earlier, reports stated that there have been massive withdrawals across the country.

The lack of adequate education is to blame for the panic withdrawals by customers.

Data published by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) revealed that the value of mobile money transactions has dropped by GH¢3.2 billion in December last year.

The value of transactions on the country's largest payment platform decreased to GH¢82.9 billion in December from GH¢86.1 billion recorded in November 2021, representing a 3.8 percentage points decline, reports stated.

Meanwhile, the Mobile money vendors have said their businesses are on the brink of collapse due to the unwillingness of their customers to pay the E-levy.

They said the phenomenon has resulted in a significant reduction in transactions and low income, four months after the implementation of the tax measure.

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