Bussiness
Employment Ministry rolls out strategy to create ‘Green Jobs’
The Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR) has commenced processes towards the implementation of a five-year strategy, aimed at creating decent jobs through the implementation of measures that protect the environment.
The National Green Jobs Strategy, which is being implemented from 2021 to 2025, seeks to support enterprises whose activities help to reduce carbon emissions, and contribute to combatting climate change.
The initiative also forms part of measures being undertaken by the Government towards the achievement of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change targets, which was ratified in 2016.
As part of the implementation process, the MELR in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Monday, held a sensitisation workshop to introduce the Strategy to various stakeholders and solicit for input.
The participants were drawn from the MELR, the National Development Planning Commission, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Environmental Protection Agency, Trades Union Congress, among other institutions.
The ILO defines Green Jobs as “decent jobs that contribute to preserve or restore the environment, be they in traditional sectors such as manufacturing and construction, or in new, emerging green sectors such as renewable energy and energy efficiency.”
According to the ILO, these kinds of jobs increased efficient consumption of energy and raw materials, limited greenhouse gas emissions, minimised waste and contamination, protected and restored ecosystems.
It says an estimated 18 million green jobs are expected to be created if the necessary measures and policies are put in place to support a transition from the traditional jobs to a green economy.
Addressing participants at the workshop, Mr Ernest Berko, the Deputy Director of Policy, Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation at the MELR, said the Ministry was keen on creating job opportunities that met decent work standards, hence the development of the Strategy.
“The Strategy has been developed to provide a coordinated framework to ensure policy coherence and inter-sectoral linkages in the implementation of green interventions for job creation,” he said.
He said the Ministry engaged all relevant stakeholders in the drafting of the Strategy, adding that the workshop formed part of measures to involve all relevant bodies in the implementation process.
“After this workshop, the Ministry will trigger the various mechanism and measures that are expected to facilitate implementation for timely achievement of the expected outcomes,” he said.
Participants at the workshop called for continuous engagement with stakeholders throughout the implementation period.
They also called for the integration of the Strategy into the broader National Development agenda to help expedite action on the document. -GNA
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
