Managing Director of the Strategic Mobilization Ghana LTD (SML), Christian Tetteh Sottie believes Ghana can make significant inroads and massively improve its economy.
READ MORE: We have the infrastructure to take on extra tasks – Strategic Mobilization
According to him, this can only be done and also push the country much further in achieving its beyond aid agenda if it (Ghana) focuses equally on maximizing revenue from all the sectors of the economy, especially the informal sector.
He shared that it is quite unfortunate for the informal sector which constitutes the largest portion of Ghana’s GDP to contribute very little to its revenue.
“The informal sector constitutes about 80 percent of the country’s GDP but it contributes less than 9 percent of our revenue. There is a goldmine in this sector that we are not tapping into. But we can put in place a monitoring system to make sure these revenues are not lost and we get more from the sector”, he said.
Asked by the host of the Happy Morning Show, Samuel Eshun if the country has the necessary resources and infrastructure to effectively and efficiently collect revenue and block any seepages in the informal sector, he answered in the negative.
READ MORE: We have the infrastructure to take on extra tasks – Strategic Mobilization
Although he admits there is no infrastructure to prevent these seepages he believes the revenue will increase if the attempt is made.
Christian Tetteh Sottie noted “I believe even if we don’t have the infrastructure to do that, it is good we start the process. If we start, we can increase the revenue percentage from 9 to between 15 to 20 percent. A slow jump is better than none at all and I believe we will gradually get there.
On his authority, there is no country that can collect 100 percent of its internal revenue. “But we can start at a slow pace and we can then continue to increase the rate gradually”.
80 percent of the Ghanaian workforce is employed in the informal sector. The sector is characterized by underemployment, bad working conditions, uncertain work relationships and low wages. The majority of people are living with high-income insecurity.