Deputy Minister of Finance, Thomas Nyarko Ampem, has said President John Dramani Mahama will likely assent to the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) repeal bill today, Thursday, March 27, 2025.
According to the Minister, the President was yet to be presented with the bill which was passed by Parliament on Wednesday, March 26, 2025.
He says once the document is made available to him by the Clerk of Parliament, he will sign it for it to take effect.
“Parliament is still in session, and so I doubt the Clerk has been able to transmit what we are doing to the President. There are a number of other bills that we are considering, so if they will be able to do that, it will have to be tomorrow or the day after,” he told Accra-based JoyNews Wednesday, March 26.
The Minister added that once the bill is assented by the President, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) will halt the collection of the E-Levy upon direction from the Finance Ministry.
“I understand the President may be out of town tomorrow [Thursday], and so all [other] things being equal, by Wednesday [Thursday], he will assent to the bill. Once that happens, the Finance Ministry will get the GRA to discontinue collecting the E-Levy, and it’s going to happen as soon as possible,” he explained.
The Asuogyaman lawmaker further disclosed that his talks with the Commissioner General of the GRA has it that the Authority will implement the policy once the bill is signed by the President.
“My discussions with the Commissioner General indicate that as soon as the President assents, they will take steps to comply,” he said.
The repeal of the E-Levy has come as a relief for many Ghanaians who saw that tax as a nuisance and kicked against its passage but still got passed by the previous administration.
Introduced in 2022 by the previous New Patriotic Party administration, the e-levy imposed a 1.5% tax on electronic transactions, including mobile money transfers, bank transfers, and online payments.
Commenting further about the timeline for the E-Levy’s full repeal, Mr Ampem expressed confidence that it will take effect even before March comes to an end.
“I’m sure it will take effect before next week Friday,” the Deputy Finance Minister added.
Scrapping of E-levy will put money back into people’s pockets – Franklin Cudjoe
