2022 budget: Ghana is broke - Financial analyst Joe Jackson

According to him, Ghana spends 50% of revenue on interest payments and 55 % on salaries hence the introduction of the 1.75% electronic transactions which covers mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments, and inward remittances.

The proposed E- levy if approved by Parliament will come into effect on February 1, 2022.

The tax has since been met with mixed reactions, with Ghanaians kicking against it and stressing that it will only place an extra burden on their finances.

The minority in parliament has also announced that it will not support approval for the proposal.

Joe Jackson speaking on the development said the country is broke.

Director of Business Operations at Dalex Finance, Joe Jackson ece-auto-gen

In a Twitter post, he said "Ghana is still broke! We spend 50% of revenue on interest payments and 55 % on Salaries. Govt needs to increase tax revenue else we may not be able to even borrow more. Hence the proposed E-levy."

Meanwhile, Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister has written a letter to the Speaker of Parliament over modifications of portions of the controversial 2022 budget following public reaction.

He said, though, consultations would continue with respect to the implementation of the E-levy but "The full consequences of not passing the budget are serious. This would imply that from January 1, 2022, for the government to continue work, we would need to obtain parliamentary approval to spend in advance of the appropriation either than that, the entire government would have to shut down which will mean to name a few, no salaries for almost 700,000 public sector workers including doctors, nurses, teachers, personnel of the security services and others."