Check out the full policy measures outlined in the 2022 Budget Statement

The government has outlined several policy measures in the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy to support the fiscal consolidation and growth agenda of the country. 

Presenting the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the government on Wednesday (17 November) Ken Ofori-Atta said, “Mr Speaker, Government is, therefore, proposing for the consideration and approval of the House, fiscal policy measures to underpin the 2022 Budget and to support the fiscal consolidation and growth agenda. The full details of these fiscal policy measures are presented below.”

The list of the policies includes the following:

1. Approval for implementation, the revised Exemption Bill; 
2. Implementation of the Unified Common Platform for Property Rate Administration with effect from 1 January 2022, subject to review every 5 years; 
3. Restoration of the Benchmark Values of imports by suspending the 50% discount on selected General Goods and the 30% discount on vehicles; 
4. Impose an Electronic Transaction Levy (e-transaction levy) of 1.75% on the value of digital transaction and exempt daily transactions of a cumulative value of GHC100 or less, per person. The recommended effective date of implementation is 1 January 2022. Annually, up to 0.25 percentage points of the 1.5% e-transaction levy (i.e. 16.7% of the yield from the levy) should be used to support road infrastructure development and 10% of the 0.25 percentage points (i.e. 1.67% of the yield from the levy) should be dedicated for improvement in public transportation including purchase of buses;
5. Zero rate tolls (i.e. remove toll charges) on all public roads and reassign the current workforce collecting road tolls effective immediately the Budget is approved by Parliament so that they do not become any worse off because of the policy. 
6. Review Fees and Charges with an average increase of at least 15% in 2022 and thereafter subject it to automatic annual adjustments by average inflation rate as published by the Ghana Statistical Service, but with the prior consent of the Minister for Finance. The fees and charges should, however, be subjected to general review every 5 years. The effective date of implementation is 1 January 2022; 
7. Intensify the Revenue Assurance and Compliance Enforcement (RACE) initiative to plug revenue leakages; 
8. For small-scale gold mining, reduce the 3.0% withholding tax on sale of unprocessed gold by small-scale miners to 1.5% with effect from 1 January 2022; Building a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Nation: Fiscal Consolidation and Job Creation 61
9. Implement a modified taxation regime in the Income Tax Act by raising the current threshold on turnover from GHC200,000 to GHC500,000 for business income of self-employed individual persons;
10. Review the VAT Flat Rate System (VFRS) by applying the standard VAT rate to all firms except retailers with turnover threshold of between GHC200,000-GHC500,000 where the VFRS will apply. The rationale is to address the inequities that domestic producers of local substitutes face vis-à-vis importers of similar products; 
11. Complete existing Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP) Projects, with no new projects to be commenced in 2022 and spread the payment of outstanding claims over a period of two years beginning with 2022; and 
12. Transition graduating participants on the NABCO programme to the “YouStart” Programme.

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