The Dean of the University of Cape Coast Business School, Professor John Gatsi, has described the Minority caucus in Parliament's decision to approve the $300 million loan from the World Bank as an "unbeneficial compromise."

Parliament on March 8 approved the Finance Ministry’s $300 million loan from the World Bank, designated to support the First Resilient Recovery Development Policy Financing.

This funding plays a pivotal role in facilitating the government's implementation of outlined policies in the 2024 Budget.

Initially met with resistance from the minority, who linked their support to the government retracting its request for a tax waiver exceeding $449 million, the loan eventually garnered approval.

Finance Minister Mohammed Amin Adam reassured the minority of his commitment to revisit the tax exemption requests within two weeks, which ultimately led to the approval of the loan.

• Read also: Parliament grants $300m loan following Amin Adam’s intervention on $449m tax waiver

According to Professor Gatsi, the Minority's support for the bill should have been measured on whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Speaking on JoyFM’s Top Story on Friday, he said “The Minority has engaged in unproductive, unbeneficial compromise in the agreement to consider this request to borrow and to grant such a huge amount of tax exemption.

“I believe we all do know that the reason for tax exemption is for the entity to engage in activities that will promote the growth of the economy, to ensure technology transfer and then to create jobs. Since we have been granting tax exceptions I have not seen Parliament do assessment of the tax exemption that has been granted previously to come to terms with the reality of whether those targets have been achieved by the tax exemption granted. So Parliament is working without the basic elements that are needed for Parliament to continue to grant that tax exemption.”

In response on the same show, a member of the Finance Committee of Parliament and NDC legislator for Ho Central constituency, Benjamin Komla Kpodo clarified that the minority was not in support; however, they were outnumbered.

He argued that the purpose for which the money was to be used was not elaborated, which he asserts leans itself to abuse, especially because it was an election year.

Nevertheless, Professor Gatsi insisted that even if the tax exemption was $50 million, he argued that the exemption must be evaluated based on its impact on job creation and technology transfer.