The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is urging government to retreat from going to the International Monetary Fund for economic support.
In a statement released on Friday the IEA alluded to measures that government can adopt to restore economic sanity of the country.
“I suggest below measures that I believe government and Bank of Ghana can take to help build the needed policy credibility, restore the economy to some level of sanity and make going to the IMF unnecessary,” IEA indicated.
However, the Institute suggests that government should share the proposed e-levy percentage among the consumers and telcos.
“We suggest splitting the proposed rate of 1.75% between telcos (I .0%) and consumers (0.75%). We believe this is a compromise that both the majority and minority can accept,” IEA noted.
Also they added that the Tax Exemptions Bill, when passed will reduce the scope and scale of exemptions in addition to enforcing tax compliance and introduction of segregated corporate tax, ranging from the current level of 25% for indigenous companies to 35% for foreign companies, abolishing the current import benchmark discount of 30% for general goods and 10% for vehicles, amongst others.
Again, the IEA wants the government to reduce its expenditure and reduce the 2022 fiscal deficit from 7.4% to 6.0% to boost the credibility of the budget and also reduce concerns regarding both fiscal and debt sustainability.
The IEA tasked both the government and Bank of Ghana to collectively take these measures to restore investor confidence and gain needed policy credibility.
Bainatv.com.gh/Ayinawu Alhassan
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