Telcos yet to implement 1% E-levy charge despite parliamentary approval

Telecommunications companies in the country are yet to implement the 1 percent Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy) announced by the government in the 2023 Budget.

The government presenting the 2023 Budget and Economic Policy Statement, reviewed the 1.5 percent electronic transaction levy downwards to 1 percent effective January 2023.

The reduction has also been approved by Parliament.

But checks from citi News’ Philip Nii Lartey revealed that telcos were yet to implement the revised rate four days into the new year.

Joshua Edmonson, the Deputy National Public Relations Officer of the Mobile Money Association of Ghana said the revised rate will likely take effect in the next few days.

“It has not yet been implemented, although it has been announced we are hopeful it will take effect in the next few days to come. I am sure the telcos will have to do something to their database before implementation but the good news is that it has been announced and in the next few days it will take effect.”

The levy had failed to meet all of its revenue targets since its introduction with players in the telco space raising concerns over the practicality of running an effective mobile money service with the levy in place.

After the implementation of the levy, telcos registered an over 300,000 loss of mobile money subscribers in April 2022.

According to the Summary of Economic and Financial data (May 2022), just ahead of implementing the E-levy in May, active mobile money subscribers saw a decline in April to 18.6 million from the 18.9 million recorded the previous month.

Furthermore, the mobile money industry lost 4,000 active agents, as their number declined to 454,000 in April from the previous month’s 458,000 which also reflected in the value of transactions, which dropped by GH¢2.8billion within the period under discussion.