The German government has pledged its commitment to substantially support the country’s budget to boost domestic revenue.

Together with the Finance Ministry and the Local Government and Rural Development Ministry, the German government has introduced a system for enhancing collection of property rate in about 120 Metropolitan and Municipal areas.

Disclosing this at the 2022 Ghana Economic Outlook by Ghanaian-German Economic Association. Deputy Head of Mission, Helge Sander, said Germany is supporting Ghana substantially to increase its domestic revenue.

“Germany is supporting Ghana substantially to register high domestic revenue. You might know that together with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Local Government, we have introduced the system [automated] especially for collection of property rates in more than 170 districts of Ghana and all metropolitan areas.”

“In some areas, it has led to growth in internally generated funds by more than 100% beyond the amount some MMDAs receive from the central government”.

Mr. Sander however urged government to improve the business climate in the country, calling for a review of the Ghana Investment Promotion Center Act 2013, Act 865.

This he believes will boost Foreign Direct Investments into the country.

“The amendment of the GIPC Act is still high on the agenda of the businesses as it will ease acquisition or leasing of lands. Customs procedures are still high on the list of concerns of the companies [foreigners] as well as the local content and local participation legislation in the extractive sector, which partially violates the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative. There are issues in the mining sector, power and energy.”

Meanwhile, President of the Ghanaian-German Economic Association, Stephen Antwi, has urged government to resolve issues such as the Electronic Transaction Levy and the Benchmark Value policy, which he describes could impede private sector growth.

“Our members are going through challenges; how do we scale over these challenges. That is the question we want some guidance from our presenters”.

“Internally in Ghana, what has been some of the things to address private sector concerns and to encourage private sector growth? We have economic challenges including high inflation, high state debt, but then there are things that are hitting us straight.”

Mr. Antwi added that “it makes it a little bit harder to see with clarity, with certainty in our economy. We have issues with the benchmark value, is it going to be reinstated? Right now, we are where we are now.”