ADVERTISEMENT

Pass the 3 tax bills in the interest of the nation – Ken Ofori-Atta ‘begs’ Parliament

The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta has added his voice to the growing calls for Parliament to urgently pass the three new tax bills proposed by the government.

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta

He said the lawmakers should do it in the interest of the nation.

Speaking at a forum in Accra on Thursday March 30, he said “Our Parliament, in the national interest, will pass these bills before the close of the week and it will not be seen as disloyalty to anyone party. So if I may be permitted to use the word fellow Ghanaians, we are a blessed nation…I am more convinced now than ever that we are a blessed nation.

“A week ago I was in China to meet their Finance Minister and various institutions about support for an IMF programme and the Lord certainly went ahead of us.

“Ghana is a big country, the Minister of Finance is a big man but the Minister of Finance of China gave us the Ghana delegation almost an hour and a half conversation. Not only did he do that he also called the chairman of the Exim Bank of China to join him to talk through these ways in which they can facilitate to make sure we get our IMF transaction.

ADVERTISEMENT

“So indeed America is ready for us, we saw Kamala Harris here, Germany has been here, the Europeans are behind us, the Fund is behind us. It is left with our Parliament. It can’t be that we shoot ourselves in the foot. Let us rally behind our Parliamentarians.”

The Finance Minister’s calls comes after the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah made a similar plea to parliamentarians.

He warned of the consequences if Parliament don’t pass the bills urgently.

He said things will become extremely hard if he government’s efforts to close the domestic revenue gap continue to stall.

ADVERTISEMENT

Government is under pressure to have three new revenue bills passed by Parliament as it seeks to rake in GH¢4 billion per year to shore up revenue to fix the ailing economy and secure a Board approval for a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!

Unblock notifications in browser settings.
ADVERTISEMENT

Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:

Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh

ADVERTISEMENT