Ghana to Extend Corporate Earnings Levy as Revenue Misses Target

(Bloomberg) --

Ghana will extend a levy on corporate earnings in selected sectors until 2024 as the West African nation struggles to meet revenue targets.

The Fiscal Stabilization Levy of 5% on the pretax earnings of lenders, insurers, breweries and telecommunication companies was first introduced for three years in 2013 and has since been renewed twice.

“This is a revenue measure,” Mark Assibey-Yeboah, chairman of parliament's finance committee, said by phone on Wednesday. “We are in the process of amending the bill to allow for the extension and it will be passed before we rise for the holiday season” in the second half of December.

Ghana's tax revenues have fallen short of targets every year since 2016. The International Monetary Fund has warned that the economy remains at a high risk of debt distress unless the government can improve domestic collections.

Read more: Ghana to shake up tax collections as IMF warns over revenue

To contact the reporter on this story: Moses Mozart Dzawu in Accra at mdzawu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andre Janse van Vuuren at ajansevanvuu@bloomberg.net, Rene Vollgraaff

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