The first budget speech of Ghana’s new government on 11 March painted a picture of an economy in crisis, facing high debt and fiscal mismanagement. The finance minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, acknowledged that key International Monetary Fund performance targets would be missed and announced drastic spending cuts.
However, most Ghanaians just wanted to know whether the minister would announce the scrapping of the country’s electronic transfer levy (or e-tax), as he’d indicated he would.
He did, a decision parliament endorsed unanimously the next day.
