E-Levy: MTN, others to cut momo transfer charge by 25%

Telecommunications firms in the country have agreed to a 25% downward cut in their mobile money transactions in order to accommodate the controversial E-Levy introduced in the 2022 budget.

“We have had extensive deliberation with government on the need to lessen the impact on our consumers. We acknowledge the need to expand the tax base. However, to reduce the overall impact of the new levy on consumers, MTN and AirtelTigo have agreed to downward revision of their P2P (person to person transfer) fees by up to 25% depending on respective operator. Vodafone currently has no charges,” the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GTC) said in a statement Friday evening.

“Each operator would notify their customers of the applicable revised rate when the e-levy bill is passed into law,” the statement noted.

This means even if government manages to get the 1.75% proposed charge on electronic cash transactions passed, consumers may actually pay slightly lower than would have been.

The proposed levy, which is expected to come into effect on 1 February 2022, is a charge of 1.75% of the value of electronic transactions. It covers mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments, and inward remittances. The originator of the transactions will bear the charge except for inward remittances, which will be borne by the recipient. There is an exemption for transactions up to GH¢100 ($16) per day.