By Fred SARPONG
The government, led by Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, has taken a bold step to reduce the support from its donor partners by at least 50% from the beginning of 2012.
This in anticipation that by the beginning of 2012, the revenue agencies would have been fully integrated, making the nation’s dependence on donor support inconsiderable.
The Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Fiifi Kwetey, confirmed this to Business Week after the official launch of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) logo in Accra.
According to him, this will place the government in a strong position to pursue its ‘Better Ghana’ agenda.
“It is a long time this nation has consistently depended on donor support, for several developmental projects in the country. As a country, we need to seek other avenue to generate revenue in order to reduce support from our foreign partners,” said Kwetey.
The government is integrating the three revenue agencies, namely Customs and Excise Preventive Service (CEPS), Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Value Added Tax (VAT) Service into the newly created GRA in order to generate more revenue for the country.
Meanwhile, Multi-Donor Budget Support (MDBS) for Ghana's 2010 budget was slashed by US$74 million. Ghana received US$525 million in 2009, but will get only US$451 million this year.
BusinessWeek learnt that the development partners cited assessments for 2009 as the basis for their decision, and have asked the government to account to the taxpayer.
The 11-member body of Ghana’s development partners for the Multi-Donor Budget Support programme is led by the Swiss-Embassy and the World Bank.
However, Business Week can confirm from government circles that the slash by the donor partners will not affect the nation’s development, as the government plans to generate more revenue from the local front.
As a result of this, the government will introduce certain taxes into the economy to help boost the revenue generation for the country.
The possible areas to be affected will include the transport sector, petroleum and salary.
The government, led by Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, has taken a bold step to reduce the support from its donor partners by at least 50% from the beginning of 2012.
This in anticipation that by the beginning of 2012, the revenue agencies would have been fully integrated, making the nation’s dependence on donor support inconsiderable.
The Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Fiifi Kwetey, confirmed this to Business Week after the official launch of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) logo in Accra.
According to him, this will place the government in a strong position to pursue its ‘Better Ghana’ agenda.
“It is a long time this nation has consistently depended on donor support, for several developmental projects in the country. As a country, we need to seek other avenue to generate revenue in order to reduce support from our foreign partners,” said Kwetey.
The government is integrating the three revenue agencies, namely Customs and Excise Preventive Service (CEPS), Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Value Added Tax (VAT) Service into the newly created GRA in order to generate more revenue for the country.
Meanwhile, Multi-Donor Budget Support (MDBS) for Ghana's 2010 budget was slashed by US$74 million. Ghana received US$525 million in 2009, but will get only US$451 million this year.
BusinessWeek learnt that the development partners cited assessments for 2009 as the basis for their decision, and have asked the government to account to the taxpayer.
The 11-member body of Ghana’s development partners for the Multi-Donor Budget Support programme is led by the Swiss-Embassy and the World Bank.
However, Business Week can confirm from government circles that the slash by the donor partners will not affect the nation’s development, as the government plans to generate more revenue from the local front.
As a result of this, the government will introduce certain taxes into the economy to help boost the revenue generation for the country.
The possible areas to be affected will include the transport sector, petroleum and salary.
Comments