Policy Analyst, Peter Terkper, says Ghana has gone past the stage of fuel tax reductions.

According to him, such a move would have been more beneficial at the beginning of the financial crisis to alleviate the financial burden on citizens, however, with the country expected to strike a deal with the International Monetary Fund soon it is out of the question.

“We have gone past the stage of tax reduction. Some months back, 3, 4 months back that conversation was very green but we have crossed that stage, we can’t talk about that now because we all know what the country is going through currently with regards to trying to actually seek for assistance to actually bail itself out of the economic doldrums that we find ourselves now.

“And so government unfortunately has gone past the stage where it can sacrifice, and what we’re going through now the only thing to take out of this is the lessons that we should be learning as a country from the circumstance we find ourselves in,” he said on JoyNews’ PM Express.

According to him, just like the rest of the world, getting rid of taxes now would be counterproductive as governments need the revenue generated to keep their economy afloat.

“And every nation is looking at protecting itself so the world giant, the most advanced economies are doing everything that they can to protect themselves. What is happening is that every nation where in the past taxes were very low, in terms of taxes on interest investments, some nations were doing 0% taxes in Germany, in the US they were doing less than 1% interest so they were able to invest in other emerging economies.

“Now they are all increasing their interest and so those who have investments in other emerging economies and developing countries are trying to withdraw and come back and invest in their own countries because interest rates have become attractive and these are all policies the nations or these countries have introduced to protect their economy in the situation we find ourselves now.

“And that is why now every country has to think of what it must do to also salvage its own situation,” he said.