Ghana Set To Implement Electronic Levy (E-Levy) On May 1

Ghana is set for the implementation of the country’s Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) to kick off on Sunday (May 1).

This comes after several criticisms from a large portion of the Ghanaian population since its announcement in November 2021 by the country’s finance minister.

Some industry stakeholders are supporting the levy but others believe this would have a negative impact on digital payments and also affect the digitization journey that Ghana is championing.

In December last year, a debate on the introduction of the levy triggered a fight in parliament but regardless, the implementing agencies of the levy say they have put in place the relevant systems and mechanisms to start collecting 1.5 per cent as a levy on daily electronic transfers.

The agencies include the Ghana Revenue Authority, banks and specialised deposit-taking institutions (DFIs), electronic money issuers (EMIs) and telecommunications companies (telcos)

In separate interviews with state-owned newspaper, Daily Graphic, on Thursday, heads of the agencies said they expect the implementation to be smooth.

The Commissioner-General of the GRA, Owusu-Amoah said the revenue target for the E-Levy had been revised downwards to GH¢4.5 billion from the initial GH¢6.9 billion, following the reduction in the rate from 1.75 to 1.5 per cent and the delay in the implementation.

Once the implementation begins, all charges will be borne by the sender except in the case of inward remittances where the charge will be borne by the recipient. According to the Finance Minister, the country’s total digital transactions for 2020 were estimated to be over GH¢500 billion compared to GH¢78 billion in 2016.