Bank of Ghana urges Parliament to prioritise passage of revenue bills

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has asked Parliament to prioritise the passage of revenue bills before it to help strengthen the country's case for assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Governor of the central bank, Dr Ernest Addison, said today, Monday that the passage of the bills formed part of the prior actions that the country must meet to be able to receive final approval for its bailout request from the fund.

Dr Addison made the appeal at a press conference in Accra, where he also announced an increment of the bank's benchmark rate, the policy rate to 29.5 per cent.

Dr Addison said as part of the prior actions, the central bank was about signing a memorandum of understanding with the IMF to cut off central bank financing of the deficit.

This, he said now required that revenue commitments announced in the budget were recognised through the passage of the bills.

The government last month laid before Parliament three amended bills as part of measures to revamp domestic revenue mobilisation.

The bills are the Income Tax Amendment Bill, the Excise Duty Amendment Bill and the Growth and Sustainability Amendment Bill.

When passed the three bills are expected to bring in about GH¢4 billion annually to augment domestic revenue.