Bussiness
Cedi now worst African currency; depreciates 7.6% to dollar
The Ghana cedi is now the worst-performing currency on the African continent just two months into 2022.
This is because it has depreciated by about 7.6% to the dollar from January 1, 2022 to February, 25, 2022.
The local currency has therefore overtaken the Zambian kwacha, which was the worst-performing currency on the continent two weeks ago.
Both Ghana and Zambia have challenges in addressing their escalating debts as well as struggling with revenue mobilisation and expenditure management.
This conundrum is impacting negatively on the country’s exchange rate, interest rate and inflation. Additionally, the recent downgrade of the country’s ability to borrow is also a major worry as investors are still unsure about the outlook of the Ghanaian economy.
This affirms some economists and analysts’ assertion that all concerns regarding the Electronic Transaction Levy must be addressed and passed immediately by Parliament.
If not the depreciating cedi will affect the budget of most corporate institutions as well as reduce the disposable income of consumers.
But there could be some hope going forward as the World Bank Group has approved a five-year Country Partnership Framework for Ghana from this year till 2026.
This will see the injection of $4.5 billion into the economy, in the next five years.
CURRENCY YEAR-TO-DATE PERFORMANCE RANKING Namibian dollar 4.49% 1st South African rand 3.68% 2nd Botswana pula 1.17% 3rd Tunisia dinar 0.75% 4th Uganda shilling 0.46% 5th Egypt Pound 0.02% 6th Malawi kwacha 0.00% 7th Tanzania shilling -0.02% 8th Kenya shilling -0.06% 9th Nigerian naira -0.70% 10th Mauritius rupee -0.75% 11th Coted’lviore CFA -0.90 12th Morocco dirham -2.56% 13th Zambia kwacha -5.98% 14th Ghana cedi -7.60 15th
Source: www.myjoyonline.com
Bussiness
Ghana’s GDP shows economy is fast recovering despite DDEP – Finance Ministry
Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) indicates a rapid economic recovery despite global challenges and ongoing debt restructuring, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
The Ministry in a statement today indicated that latest data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), cumulative economic growth for the second quarter (Q2) of 2024 reached 6.9%, a notable increase from the 4.7% recorded in the first quarter of 2024.
The MoF statement further noted that, “The economy’s robust recovery is in response to the macroeconomic stability and growth interventions that government is pursuing under our IMF-supported Post Covid-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG).”
According to them, the overall real GDP growth for the first half of 2024 rebounded strongly, with year-on-year GDP growth averaging 5.8% for the period, significantly higher than the 2.9% recorded in the same period in 2023.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
Read full statement below
Bussiness
Facebook, Youtube, online trading companies must be taxed – Deputy Finance Minister
The Deputy Finance Minister Dr Alex Ampaabeng, has proposed that online trading companies should be taxed to bolster the economy.
He noted that these companies, both local and international, generate significant revenue from their Ghanaian clients, which underscores the necessity for taxation.
In an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV’s The Point of View, Dr Ampaabeng pointed out various potential revenue sources for Ghana, including online businesses and content creation companies.
He questioned why other national companies operating in Ghana are taxed, but social media platforms like Youtube and Facebook, which run numerous advertisements, are not included in the Ghanaian tax system.
According to him, these social media companies earn profits from the advertisements they display, and online trading companies also generate income from the sale of their products and services.
He mentioned online trading companies such as Jiji, Jumia, and Tonaton, which he believes surpass all physical marketplaces in Ghana in size.
According to him, “I can’t think of a country which has not gotten a digital service tax system of some sort, so Ghana is long overdue. Just to make an example so that people will appreciate where I’m coming from. Go to Youtube and play a video, within one or two minutes, you are going to watch about two, or three adverts.”
“What it tells you is that Facebook or Youtube is making profits right here in Ghana. Go to your Facebook account, and you are going to see a number of adverts on your right, left. What it is telling you is that Facebook is making profits right here in Ghana and not being taxed. Meanwhile, there are companies operating in Ghana, for jurisdiction reasons, of course, that are being taxed,” he said.
The Deputy Minister added that “So then, it comes to the question of the application of our tax laws. Revenues generated in Ghana are subject to taxes. We have Facebook, TikTok and all those players, these are digital platform owners.”
He stressed, “Then we have the digital or market players, here we are talking about individuals who are using the digital platforms. We have Jiji, Jumia, Tonaton, these combined, are bigger than all physical marketplaces in Ghana. And it tells you the volume of transactions, that are going on there.”
He expressed his hope that individuals earning online profits from Ghanaian residents would be taxed.
“There are conversations ongoing, I wouldn’t want to pre-empt anything, maybe in the future, it might not be anytime soon, what I would like to see, is a Ghana where people who are earning all forms of profits in the country are subject to taxes. People who are trading online to Ghanaian residents, people who are generating revenue from Ghana are allowed to pay taxes,” he noted.
Additionally, he proposed a collaboration with the government to curb cybercrime by registering and verifying these online trading companies.
“We can have a system where the government engages these operators, so individuals will submit their Ghana Card and are registered and verified,”he concluded.
Source: Citinewsroom.com
