85% revenue has been lost due to E-Levy – African Network of Entrepreneurs CEO

The founder and CEO of the African Network of Entrepreneurs, Ekow Mensah, has stated that since the introduction of taxes on electronic money transfers in Ghana, approximately 85 percent of revenue has been lost.

In an interview on Prime Morning with Roselyn Felli on JoyPrime, the Business Development Consultant stated that before the implementation of the E-levy there was a lot of revenue generated from electronic money transfers.

“Even though a lot of businesses were un-bankable or didn’t have formal bank accounts, a lot of them had momo accounts because it was easy to onboard them but when the e-levy came, statistically we have lost over 85% of revenue,” said Mr Mensah.

According to him, this loss the policy has brought about is “something we need to look into.”

He also stated that Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) generate approximately 90% of Ghana’s revenue, so educating and informing the public about how to generate income from private and public-owned enterprises will benefit the country as a whole.

Meanwhile, a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Otchere-Darko, has disclosed that the Electronic Transactions Levy (e-levy) has generated less than ¢60 million, close to two months after its implementation.

He said the levy has failed to live up to the expectations of the government.

“What options are open to the government? The question should rather be: what option if adopted, will re-inject investor confidence in our economy? Even if we find the $3-5 billion required, will that help? E-levy which was to have given us some 600m by now has done less than 60m,” he said in a tweet on Monday, June 27.

But Associate Professor at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Prof. Lord Mensah disagrees with Mr Otchere-Darko’s assertion.

In an interview on Joy FM’s Midday News on Monday, he noted that it is too early for anyone to rate the performance of the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-levy).

He contended that government should wait till the end of the year in order to decide on the performance of the levy.

Source: Yaa Boatemah Ackonor