According to reports, the government has dropped the 15 percent value-added tax on electricity.
The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting on Friday, 2 February.
The New Patriotic Party also posted on its official handle on X [formerly Twitter] that the tax had been dropped.
The government, however, intends to engage in discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to address the resulting revenue shortfall.
This shortfall is expected to be mitigated through additional spending cuts.
Meanwhile, Organised Labour has set Tuesday, February 13, 2024, to hold a massive protest to push government to withdraw the implementation of the 15% VAT on residential electricity consumption.
According to the Union, the only thing that can stop the demonstration is an official letter from the government withdrawing the VAT.
This followed an earlier ultimatum to the government to withdraw the implementation.
“We will not negotiate on it.”
“In our earlier statement, we said if by the 31st of January 2024, the government had not withdrawn its directive, we would advise ourselves [because] this government is taking us for granted so we are going to lead massive demonstrations in all the 16 regional capitals of Ghana on 13th February,” Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress Dr Yaw Baah said.