Finance Ministry fast-tracks programme for economic recovery

The Ministry of Finance has said it is fast-tracking the implementation of the Ghana COVID-19 Alleviation and revitalisation of enterprise support (Ghana CARES) programme to accelerate the recovery of key sectors of the economy from the impact of the pandemic.

It has, consequently, established recovery units at some selected ministries to spearhead the implementation of identified programmes that pertain to those sectors.

Speaking at the 7th Economic counsellors dialogue in Accra yesterday, the Coordinating Director of the Ministry of Finance, Ms Eva Mends, said her outfit was also engaging the private sector to ensure its full participation in the implementation of the programme.

The annual dialogue is organised by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) to engage economic, commercial and trade counsellors of the various diplomatic missions in the country on ways to improve the business and investment climate in Ghana.

Transformation agenda

Ms Mends said the programme was not intended to address only the impact of the pandemic but also serve as a vehicle for transformation.

“This programme will focus on few sectors for results; we are focusing on trade and industry, agriculture, science and technology, digitisation and finance.

“We have engaged those ministries and developed compacts with them. These compacts are programmes that we have agreed upon to implement over the next three years for clear determined results,” she added.

Tax payment platform

Some investors and representatives of the business community welcomed some key reforms introduced to enhance the ease of doing business in the country, including a digital tax payment platform introduced by the Ghana Revenue Authority.

They, however, mentioned the high cost of electricity as one of the major challenges affecting their operations and entreated the government to go to their aid.

They also appealed to the government to expedite action on the establishment of an independent tax appeals board, as mandated by the Revenue Administration (Amendment) Act, 2020, to help resolve all tax-related disputes and also promote fruitful relations between the GRA and the business community.

Calls for new strategy

The Executive Secretary of the American Chamber of Commerce (Ghana), Mr Simon Madjie, urged the government to roll out a strategy that would enable small-scale enterprises abroad to partner their counterparts in the country for mutual benefit.

The Executive Director of the UK-Ghana Chamber of Commerce, Ms Adjoba Kyiamah, asked the GRA to broaden the tax net to include the informal sector.

For his part, the Chief Executive Officer of the GIPC, Mr Yofi Grant, called on the business community to make the country their preferred investment destination, adding that Ghana had so far signed 25 bilateral treaties.

He gave an assurance that the government would address the concerns raised by the investors and also implement key reforms to ease the cost of doing business in the country.