MTN, GRA tax saga: Ghana risks investor revolt as it scours for taxes

Ghana’s attempt to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars from some of its biggest investors for alleged unpaid taxes may have backfired.

With the country struggling to service about $47 billion of public debt and with a $3 billion rescue package from the International Monetary Fund yet to be finalized, the government is desperate to boost revenue. The methods it used, though, are risky — harming its standing with investors and the nations they come from.

It all started last month with a demand that South Africa’s MTN Group hand over around $700 million in back taxes, penalties and interest. Gold Fields, Tullow Oil and Kosmos Energy were also hit with charges. All the companies disputed the claims.

The demand on MTN, the continent’s biggest mobile-phone operator, drew a rare rebuke from South Africa.

Naledi Pandor, the foreign minister, wrote in a Friday evening statement that the dispute should be resolved amicably. She pointed out that more than 100 South African companies do business in Ghana and have invested over $1.4 billion over the past decade, providing jobs for more than 19,000 Ghanaians.

Pandor warned Ghana that in other African countries where South African companies had faced “challenges,” they had disinvested, damaging their economies. A few days later, the West African nation’s tax authority withdrew the claim against MTN.

The strategy is not unprecedented — Nigeria’s demand for $4.4 billion in back taxes from pay TV service Multichoice last year led to an acrimonious fight and an out-of-court settlement. It had also previously targeted MTN.

Ghana is desperate for cash with the spiraling debt crisis almost halving the value of its national currency over the past year and driving inflation to 54%.

Still, it might find the short-term gains of fuller tax coffers may deter the investors that made it Africa’s biggest gold producer and built an oil industry.

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