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Increasing consumer-based taxes is wrong – IEA                                         The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is of the view that the government should  have increased taxes on flourishing businesses instead of consumers. According to the IEA’s review of the 2019 Supplementary Budget and Mid-Year Economic Review, flourishing businesses make profits which needed to be taxed, instead of the consumers' income. The government proposed an upward adjustment in the Road Fund Levy, the Energy Debt Recovery Levy, and the Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levy, to bring the ratios close to 21%, to help bridge the financing requirements. Government proposes to increase the Energy Sector Levies by 20 pesewas per litre for petrol and diesel and 8 pesewas per kg for LPG, so as to increase the inflows to enable government issue additional bonds to pay down our energy sector debt obligations. Based on current indicative prices for petrol and diesel, this transl

OneGhana Movement donates 40 bins to NCCE

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  OneGhAna Movement has donated 40 waste bins to the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) for waste segregation in basic schools. Given that sanitation is very critical to the NCCE, it has collaborated with the OneGhana Movement to educate young children, especially in basic schools, to inculcate the habit of proper waste disposal through its ‘A Clean Ghana, My Responsibility’ sanitation programme. Speaking at the official handing-over ceremony of the bins to the NCCE, Emily Kanyir Nyuur, executive secretary of the movement, emphasised that plastic waste is a big problem in Ghana; there is, therefore, the need to encourage waste segregation in the younger generation so that they can be agents of change. “Plastic waste takes about 500 years to decompose, and that is not very good for our environment so we encourage segregation of waste although it will take a while to boom,” she added. Ms Josephine Nkrumah, chairperson of the commission, said that the mo

Civil Society Organisations launch SDG shadow report Civil Society Organisations launch SDG shadow report

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   The Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) platform on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in partnership with the government, German development agency (GIZ), UN and Implementation Co-ordinating Committee (ICC), has launched its first shadow report to complement government’s Voluntary National Report (VNR). The VNR is the first review report to be presented by Ghana at the High Level Political Forum at the United Nations on July 17, 2019, as part of the follow up and review arrangements for the SDGs. Speaking at the launch, Dr Christine Asare, a representative of the Minister for Planning, said that the strong partnership between government and civil society organisations is the key factor for progress in achieving the SDG 2030 agenda. This partnership is to ensure that nobody is left behind. She noted that “the objective of the VNR is to facilitate sharing of experience and mutual learning, including our successes, our challenges and our lessons learned with the view

Ghana tipped to be the fastest growing mobile money market in Africa

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  A World Bank report released over the weekend has tipped Ghana to be the fastest growing mobile money market in Africa. According to the report, the mobile phone penetration created opportunities for expansion of financial services and increased the role of non-financial institutions such as e-money issuers, positioning Ghana as the fastest growing mobile money market in Africa. The 45-page report, dubbed 'Fourth Ghana Economic Update', which focuses on financial sector development and financial inclusion, further stated that this dynamic development indicated the potential of digital financial services and payments to further enhance financial inclusion in Ghana. Speaking at the launch of the fourth Ghana Economic Update, Dr Henry Kerali, the World Bank Country Director in Ghana, said Ghana’s economy had had a turnaround over the past two years. He said it would be important to leverage the momentum that the fiscal responsibility