The Parliament of Ghana has approved the Budget and Economic Policy for the 2023 fiscal year.

The removal of a threshold for the Electronic Transaction Levy and a 2.5% increase in VAT were two of the revenue-generating measures that the Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu expressed worry about on the penultimate day of debate.

With the approval, the estimates for ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) can now be sent to the various committees for review.

“Mr Speaker, if I say that our country is in deep crisis and President Akufo-Addo himself has accepted that the country is in crisis but what he failed to add was to take responsibility for leading the country into this economic crisis. The president must gather the courage and take full responsibility.

“In this budget, the Minister of Finance is introducing 23 tax measures and a 2.5% VAT rate (increase). We the NDC minority group will fearlessly resist and fight the imposition of these additional taxes,” he said.

However, the Majority leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu countered the argument raised by the Minority Leader.