The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre organized its Second Quarter ‘Ghana on the Go’ CEOs’ Breakfast Meeting which forms part of the four (4) quarterly meetings scheduled for 2019 on the 27th of June 2019 at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra.

The meeting, themed “Assessing the Tax Exemptions Regime” focused on Ghana’s current tax regime, providing the platform to deliberate with key government stakeholders and experts in the field of finance and taxation, and to drive the necessary discussions to strengthen the country’s tax regime to encourage investments and improve revenue mobilization for national development.

Key speakers and panelists at the event were Honorable Kwaku Agyeman Kwarteng (MP) - Deputy Finance Minister, Mr. Abeiku Gyan-Quansah- Tax Partner at PwC Ghana, Mr.  Adulfus Ennuson - CEO at Amponsah-Effah Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Nathan Nettey- Deputy Commissioner for Policy and Programmes at Ghana Revenue Authority, Mr. Carl Nelson- Chief Operating Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre and Mrs. Naa Lamle Orleans-Lindsay - Head of Legal at the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre.

Mr. Carl Nelson, in his welcome address, briefly touched on the history of the breakfast meeting series. Highlighting one of the many benefits of Ghana’s current tax regime, he cited a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), released earlier this year, which showed that Ghana was West Africa’s largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment in 2018, attracting over US$3.3 Billion. He encouraged a frank and objective deliberations and assured the participants that action items and suggestions that would be made at the end of the day would be forwarded to the relevant parties within government for consideration in strategic policy formulation.

In his address on Evaluating the Impact of Tax Exemptions on the Financial Strength of Companies, Mr. Abeiku Gyan-Quansah - Tax Partner, PwC Ghana, acknowledged that the impact of Ghana’s current tax exemption laws on the economy cannot be over-emphasized.

Stressing on the need for a thorough and holistic review of the laws, he touched on current tax exemptions in different sectors of the economy and some of the amendments likely to take place when Parliament passes the Tax Exemption Bill into an Act.

Mr. Gyan-Quansah reiterated a key proposition from PwC, suggesting that, as part of the budget preparation process, Government should submit or release an Exemptions Impact Report to help evaluate the actual effect the granted Tax Exemptions have had on the economy in the year under review. He then called on the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to monitor and resolve abuses of tax exemptions.

Deputy Finance Minister, Hon. Kwaku Agyeman Kwarteng in his address, posited that tax is one of the critical funding sources for any economy to undertake development. According to him, if Government failed to collect taxes efficiently, it would not be able to undertake its planned development agenda, there would be macro-economic instability and key indicators would be negatively affected, creating an unattractive investment environment.

The event ended with a plenary session moderated by the Head of Legal of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre – Mrs. Naa Lamle Orleans Lindsay, with discussions centered on Ghana’s current tax exemption laws and the benefits and disadvantages of the Exemption Bill 2019.

Source: GIPC