The finance minister, honorable Ken Ofori Atta on Wednesday, November 17, 2021, delivered the 2022 budget to parliament saying it’s going to transform the country. He pointed out that these key factors when enforced are going to help solve the problems of Ghanaians.
NO MORE ROAD TOLLS
According to him, there will be no more roads tolls on all public roads and bridges by reassigning jobs to toll workers. To him, the tolling point has become a very unhealthy market place leading to heavy traffic on roads and even lengthen travel time as well as reducing productivity.
He said if tolls are removed from roads, It is going to help reduce the rate of road congestion, minimize travel time, will reduce environmental pollution as well.
” To address these challenges, the Government has abolished all tolls on public roads and bridges. This takes effect immediately after the budget is approved (after appropriation it now?). The toll collection personnel will be reassigned. The expected impact on productivity and reducing environmental pollution will more than offset the revenue forgone by removing tolls,” the finance minister declared.
BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE ENTREPRENEURIAL NATION
Finance minister ken ofori Atta says in Building a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Nation the 2022 budget will absorb challenges of Entrepreneurs in access to credit and finance to support the private sector and create jobs for more youth at the Parliament House on 17 November 2021.
According to him, “The Census results put Ghana’s population figure at 30.8 million and of this number, 42.8 percent constitute the adult population above 18 years while 58.2 percent constitute the population below 18 years.
Therefore with this youthful population, there is an urgent need to provide the necessary environment for the private sector. In this regard, Government will implement a major intervention to empower existing private sector businesses to be robust and dynamic to expand and create jobs. while giving a strong hand up to the youth”
Further explaining he said, the Budget will redefine the development paradigm and will concentrate on the private sector, particularly entrepreneurship development.
Again, he made it clear that the government will build an Entrepreneurial Nation by aggressively going to implement programs that will provide the majority of the young people to use their God-given talents to take risks and become job inventors instead of job seekers.
Speaking about the YouStart initiative, he said it’s going to benefit entrepreneurs because the initiative will be a vehicle to support young entrepreneurs to attain access to capital, training, technical skills, and mentoring to encourage them to launch and utilize their businesses.
Partners of the ‘YouStart’ will comprise the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), and partner financial institutions which will serve as the implementing arms of ‘YouStart’.
“Entrepreneurs will be able to apply for support through a dedicated YouStart online portal. NEIP will also engage our Faith-Based Organisations as partners for the delivery of essential artisanal skills, business competitions, and feasibility studies and introduction to financing institutions with a commitment of up 10% of GOG contribution to the ‘You Start’ Program”
The Youstart will support the youth-led enterprises with loans. The loans will come in various forms. The district-level loans will be GHC10,000 after 2-3 months of training.
The soft loans of up to GHC50,000 will help start-ups particularly young graduates and school leavers. The small businesses and the starter packs of up to GHC50,000 for individuals and GHC10,000 for organizations. Of GHC100,000 to GHC400,000 at concessional rates for Small and Mid-Size Enterprises (SMEs) through financial institutions.
CHARGING LEVY ON ALL ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS
The 2022 budget according to Honorable Ken Ofori Atta is going to expand the tax net in the informal sector therefore the “Electronic Transaction Levy or E-levy”. Furthermore, the electronic transactions which will cover mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments, and inward remittances will be charged at a rate of 1.75% which will be borne by the sender except for inward remittances which will be borne by the recipient.
“Mr. Speaker, to safeguard efforts being made to enhance financial inclusion and
protect the vulnerable, all transactions that add up to GH¢100 or less per day (which is approximately GH¢3000 per month) will be exempt from this levy,” he indicated.
While the policy will take effect from January 1, 2022, and the government is going to work with partners to make sure that their systems and payment platforms are organized to carry out the policy, “A portion of the proceeds from the E-Levy will be used to support entrepreneurship, youth employment, cyber security, digital and road infrastructure among others. 3y3 Baako, Ye nyinaa bey tua”, He added.
SOME AREAS TO GET DIGITAL CENTERS
The Agyenkwa budget has come to fast-track efforts to upgrade the Kumasi, Tamale, Sunyani, and Sekondi-Takoradi regional innovation centers to digital centers. The centers according to the honorable minister will facilitate the building of ICT facilities and that will support startups to expand job creation and improve the drive for knowledge-led socio-economic growth.
“Government is making significant progress towards our digitalization drive. We are happy to announce that, to date, we have issued unique identification cards to over 11.6
million Ghanaians. The second phase of the National Digital Property Addressing System as well as the establishment of a national digital property register is complete.
Our plan to establish a comprehensive government-wide database and register as a reference platform and Management System for all government digital assets was set in motion with stakeholder engagements. We are currently awaiting the outcome of the preliminary assessment to inform the next steps,” he stated.
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