GHANA SHIFTS ATTENTION FROM TAX DRIVEN ECONOMY TO PRODUCTION DRIVEN ECONOMY

While some African countries are considering increasing Value Added Tax (VAT) also known as Goods and Services Tax (GST), GHANA is already thinking outside the box.

To save us the boredom of reading long stories, let me summarize here:

Ghana has abolished VAT/GST on real estate sales.
Ghana has abolished VAT on financial services.
Ghana has abolished capital gains tax on sales of shares on the stock exchange.
Ghana has abolished import duty on spare parts.
Ghana has abolished the 1% import levy.
Ghana has abolished VAT on domestic airline tickets.
Ghana has reduced very significantly VAT on small traders from 17.5% to 3%.
Ghana is going to abolish all import duty on raw materials and machineries imported into Ghana.

Ghana is embarking on a massive industrialization drive called One District, One Factory. And there are 216 districts in Ghana. There is now a focus on production.

Now, Ghana has two major advantages: power issues sorted out and a peaceful democracy.
Ghana with a population of 28 million generates 4,577MW as at 2017. Nigeria with a population of 200 million generates 5,500MW and Sierra Leone generates below 500MW. Meanwhile, Ghana is currently working on 2 power plants- a 400MW LNG-fired plant and a 600MW plant being built by Siemens.