Remittances to Ghana are likely to drop significantly if the 1.75 per cent proposed levy on electronic transactions remains in the 2022 budget.

This will consequently result in high cost of remittance to the country, an impact that will be contrary to the sustainable development goal on financial inclusion.

Addressing newly inducted economists into the Institute of Chartered Economists at the Annual Economists Conference in Accra, Economist, Dr. Sam Ankrah believes the E-Levy is a bad one and retrogressive to the development of the country’s financial sector.

Speaking on the topic: “Restoring Ghana’s Macroeconomic Stability and Revitalization: The Word Becoming Flesh”, Dr. Ankrah charged the government to find innovative means of raising revenue and making public sector work more efficiently rather than taxing such a budding industry.

“Create fiscal space to support the various streams of funding inflows absorption through expenditure switching and substitution policies”

“Strengthen capital budgeting processes, including the link between investment planning and the medium-term budgetary framework, and between national priorities and regional priorities”, he pointed out.

Dr. Ankrah further called for the introduction of a broader Public Investment Management, PIM -decree, with a comprehensive set of underlying regulations and guidelines, and a PIM information system to enhance the planning, selection, procurement, and monitoring of public investment projects.

“Strengthen individual and organisational PIM capacities, including project management capacity in line with ministries and state enterprises, and their governance arrangements”, he added.

He concluded, saying, Ghana is also part of leading African nations blessed with all-natural resources and has access to a huge potential market of over one billion people, but the main focus of its economic activities is to strengthen the export market.