Development Economist Dr. George Domfe has criticized the complete scrapping of the 1% Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) by the NDC administration.
The repeal of the E-Levy was officially announced by President John Dramani Mahama on April 2, 2025, fulfilling a promise made by the NDC in 2024.
Speaking at the Institute of Economic Research and Public Policy’s ‘Meet the Press’ event, Dr. Domfe argued that the E-Levy had been beneficial to Ghana’s economy, especially in terms of domestic revenue generation.
“The introduction of the e-levy was a nationwide initiative. In Damongo, people were paying e-levy; in Kumasi, people were paying e-levy. E-levy was collected everywhere—and that’s what we wanted: broadening the tax network.”
He further stated that rather than scrapping the levy entirely, a reduction in the rate would have been a better option as an additional avenue for revenue. “If there was a problem with the 1%, they could have reduced it to 0.2% or 0.3% and then worked around it to make it better, so that we can use that to rake in more revenue for the nation.”
