The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has endorsed Ghana’s decision to abolish the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy, signalling international confidence in government’s ongoing tax reforms aimed at reducing burdens on businesses while boosting domestic revenue mobilization.
Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson is expected to formally announce the policy shift during the 2025 Mid-Year Budget Review on Thursday, July 24, marking a significant milestone in Ghana’s post-pandemic fiscal restructuring.
Edward Apenteng Gyamera, Commissioner of the Domestic Tax Revenue Division at the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), confirmed stakeholder consensus on the removal of the levy in an interview.
“I think from the engagements with stakeholders and the IMF, issues that the Minister even indicated in the budget, for instance, the removal of the COVID levy, is something that has been agreed. So far, our interactions show that everybody is of the view that this levy should be taken off when the reform is completed,” Gyamera said.
Introduced under the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy Act, 2021, the 1% levy was imposed on goods, services, and imports to support pandemic-related expenditures and economic recovery programmes.
Beyond scrapping the levy, Ghana’s tax reform blueprint includes proposals to integrate certain levies into the Value Added Tax (VAT) system to eliminate cascading effects, enable businesses to claim input deductions, and reduce overall tax burdens.
“Treating the levies as part of the VAT mechanism where businesses can claim input and deductions has been generally accepted by all,” Gyamera noted, adding that the business community broadly supports the reforms as critical interventions to ease compliance pressures and attract investment.
These reforms are integral to Ghana’s medium-term revenue strategy under the IMF-supported Post-COVID Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG), and are expected to enhance fiscal sustainability while fostering a more competitive business environment.
