Government accrued over 610 million cedis from the Special Import Levy in 2017, Deputy Finance Minister, Kwaku Kwarteng has revealed.
The figure is up from the previous amount of over 550 million cedis generated in 2016.
In 2017, the President Akufo Addo administration through an Act of Parliament abolished the 1% special import levy but maintained the 2 percent special import levy.
The special import levy which was introduced by the past National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, received a huge backlash from importers who described it as a nuisance tax that added to their cost of operations.
Prior to the budget presentation in 2017, businesses expected both the one and two percent levies to be scrapped, complaining that it increased their cost of operations.
The 2% levy was later extended by two more years.
Answering a question from the minority on the floor of parliament Mr. Kwarteng indicated that the reform had led to an increase in the amount of revenue generated.
“We stopped collecting the 1 percent special import levy in accordance with our manifesto promise to abolish special import levy,” he said.
Meanwhile, the 2% import levy generated about GHc592,814,842.82, he said.
