The Parliament passed the Energy Sector Levies (Amendment) Bill 2.0 into law on Thursday to increase the rate of the energy sector shortfall and debt repayment levy on marine gas oil.
It is also intended to improve compliance and curb diversion of the product.
Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, the Minister of Finance, while explaining the rationale of the legislation, said the government had observed significant leakages that undermined the fairness and integrity of the Government’s fuel subsidy programmes, particularly those intended to support artisanal and commercial fishing activities.
Those leakages, he said, had created avenues for some individuals to profit illegally from government subsidies that were meant to reduce the cost of operations for genuine fisherfolks.
That situation, he said, not only deprived the state of critical revenue needed for social and economic development, but also distorted the intended impact of those subsidies on the fishing sector.
“Government is consequently taking decisive steps to reform tax compliance within the petroleum downstream sector to address these challenges and seal all loopholes, and ensure that the fishing community continued to receive government’s support without sacrificing national revenue to promote illicit trade,” he said.
In that regard, Dr Forson said, government would remove the price differential between marine gas oil and other diesel products.
The minister indicated that the government recognised the importance of supporting the fishing industry; therefore a more targeted measure would be implemented to provide the necessary support directly to the artisanal and commercial fisherfolks, thus, ensuring that assistance reached its intended beneficiaries without creating opportunities for abuse.
GNA
