The Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs, Dr. John Kwakye, has stated that Ghana’s revenue targets have not been ambitious enough to rake in the expected revenue needed for development.
According to him, every country thrives on good policies and the ability to take advantage of resources, but, in Ghana’s case, both have been defective.
He was speaking at the 11th Ghana Economic Forum on October 25, 2022.
“As a country, we need both resources and policies to advance our development. For Ghana, we have lacked adequate resources, and our policies have also been defective in so many areas,” he said.
Dr. Kwakye also noted that Ghana has not built enough economic buffers to be able to withstand shocks the reason the country is going through these challenges.
He noted that the government does not set targets that match the potential of the country’s resources.
“We collect only a fraction of our potential tax revenue. I hear sometimes them pat themselves on the back and say we have exceeded our target. But of course, it depends on how ambitious the target is. Our revenue targets have not been ambitious enough. We collect just about 12% of our GDP. Many of our peers do even more than two times that. So, we have a big potential to raise more revenue to fund our developments.”
According to him, Ghana’s inability to raise enough tax revenues does not depend on its rates, but instead, the loopholes that exist in the system.
Ghana Revenue Authority