In a move as uncharacteristically generous as it is politically calculated, Ghana’s Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, recently announced the abolition of several controversial taxes — among them, the much-maligned Electronic Transfer Levy (e-levy), a 1% charge on digital financial transactions that had hovered over the fintech sector like an unwelcome cloud since 2022.

Speaking during the 2025 budget presentation to Parliament earlier this year, Dr. Forson said the government would do away with a suite of so-called “nuisance taxes” — a label that may raise eyebrows considering they were all introduced with considerable fanfare not so long ago. These include the e-levy, the 10% withholding tax on betting and lottery winnings, VAT on motor vehicle insurance, and even the emissions levy, once touted as a step towards environmental responsibility.

But in a sharp policy pivot, the Finance Minister declared that their time is up.

“We have programmed the following nuisance taxes for removal in line with our manifesto promise,” Dr. Forson told Parliament. “The removal of these taxes will ease the burden on households and improve their disposable incomes. In addition, it will support business growth and improve tax compliance.”

Relief or Recalibration?

The response from Ghana’s financial technology sector has been quietly jubilant. For mobile money platforms and digital payment firms, the lifting of the e-levy represents a significant drop in friction — literal and metaphorical — in the payments chain. The 1% levy may seem modest on paper, but in an economy where every cedi counts, the tax had deterred digital transactions and driven some users back to cash.

In 2023 alone, the e-levy generated GHS 1.19 billion (roughly $129 million), exceeding its target of GHS 1.11 billion, and proving that, like it or not, Ghanaians had grudgingly adapted. Yet that adaptation often took the form of fewer or fragmented transactions, workarounds to avoid the tax, or in some cases, a wholesale retreat from mobile money channels. For startups whose business models rely on seamless digital flows, it was a painful compromise.

Ghana’s Chamber of Telecommunications was quick to react, with CEO Dr. Ken Ashigbey assuring the public that refunds would be issued if any entities continued to deduct e-levy after the repeal took effect on April 2. “Because of the shortness of the notice, if there is any charge of e-levy inadvertently, the charging entity will be the one to refund,” he said, adding that all platforms had been instructed to set the e-levy rate to zero.

To the industry’s credit, the transition was swift. “When you send mobile money, what you will see is that e-levy will be zero. There will be no charge,” Dr. Ashigbey said. 

The e-levy was first introduced in May 2022 as a flagship revenue-raising initiative designed to capture Ghana’s burgeoning digital economy — particularly the mobile money sector, which had become increasingly central to both personal and commercial finance.

Backed by research from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and international partners like the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD), the policy was ambitious, but perhaps also premature. Originally expected to raise GHS 6.96 billion in its first year, the final figure for 2022 came in at just GHS 612 million — a miss of epic proportions, though it still slightly exceeded a revised target set after the political and social backlash.

Many critics had argued from the outset that taxing digital financial services risked reversing gains made in financial inclusion. The irony, of course, is that this was a tax built on the very infrastructure the state had long championed as a tool for economic empowerment.

For Ghana’s fintech startups, the U-turn on these taxes provides a vital breath of fresh air. With transaction costs lowered and regulatory uncertainty somewhat eased, the sector may now see a renewed surge in adoption and innovation. MTN, which accounted for a staggering 60% of the total e-levy revenue, and smaller PSPs alike, can now re-focus on user experience rather than tax optimisation.

The bigger question is whether this moment of relief is a temporary reprieve or a signal of long-term policy maturation. For now, though, fintech founders will take the win — and breathe a sigh of relief. Carefully, of course. No one wants to inhale another “nuisance tax” by mistake.