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Bringing you updates from the world of business

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has described the implementation of the review of the Benchmark Value policy, from March 2022, as so far successful. After a stakeholder meeting last month, the government reduced the benchmark values on general goods from 50% to 30% as well as import discounts on vehicles from 30% to 10%.

46.5% of Ghanaians surveyed by the Center for Economics Finance and Inequality Studies on the Electronic Transaction Levy, say, they will stop using Mobil Money, should the E-Levy be passed into law. 41.4% however said they will reduce their Mobile Money transactions should the levy be passed. The report further said those who will continue to use mobile money fully if the current bill is passed make up 10.7% of the Ghanaian population.

Prices of petroleum products are expected to shoot up by at least 5 percent from Wednesday, March 16, 2022, the Institute for Energy Security (IES) has projected.

Economist, Professor Lord Mensah says Ghana’s discovery of oil has had no impact whatsoever on the Ghanaian economy since 2007. According to him, the oil only became an add-on to boost investor confidence when the government needed to borrow funds from the international market.

The Ghana Revenue Authority has set April 1st, 2022 to begin collecting taxes from non-resident Ghanaians who undertake online businesses such as using Facebook to sell or electronic-commerce (E-commerce). The move is to ensure that the country mobilizes adequate revenue and widens the tax net for national development.

Inflation shot up to 15.7% in February 2022, as a result of significant jump in food prices, the Ghana Statistical Service has disclosed in its Consumer Price Index report. The rate is the highest since 2016 and confirms reports that food prices will continue to soar because of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has provided over $200 million to some six financial institutions in the country for on-lending to women businesses. The move is to reduce the lack of access to capital by women led businesses. Speaking at this year’s Women International Day Forum organised by the Ghana Stock Exchange Forum, a Senior Country Officer at IFC, Cemile Hacibeyoglu, said the IFC which is a member of the World Bank Group is committed to increasing funding for women led firms.

Crude oil price hits $130. The rising oil prices on the world market mean fuel prices at the pumps will keep going up unless the government moves quickly to intervene. Cabinet has actually begun a meeting to subsidize the price of petroleum products, as the rising cost of fuel prices bite hard at consumers.

The rate of depreciation of the Ghana cedi almost doubled within just a week or only the first week of March to 14.21%, since the beginning of the year. This was against 7.6% recorded at the end of February 2021. The decline in value of the cedi still ranked it as the worst-performing among Africa’s top-performing currencies.