2014 Budget: Taxes On Outboard Motors, Condoms Removed...Market Premium White Paper To Be Implemented

Finance and Economic Planning minister, Seth Terkper, says from next year, 2014, Government will remove taxes imposed on Agricultural and fishing inputs including outboard motors and medical supplies including condoms. He also disclosed that the Special import levy, which was expected to close in 2015, will end in 2014. Presenting government�s 2014 Budget and Financial Statement in Parliament, Friday November 19, 2013, Seth Terkper, also rolled out some policy initiatives that government intends to implement to achieve middle income status. He announced the establishment of the Ghana Infrastructure fund to deal with the huge housing deficit. He also disclosed that the Book and Research Allowances which government attempted to scrap at the latter part of this year, will be replaced with a Research facility to be managed by the Ministry of Education. Consequently, he said, government has allocated 15 million cedis for the facility and Ministry is to develop guidelines to make the facility sustainable. Touching on the issue of market premium, the Finance Minister indicated that government will implement a white paper with immediate effect and from January 2014, existing market premium paid to workers will be abolished. Government's White Paper on guidelines for the determination of Market Premium under Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP), was introduced as a pay administration system in order to attract and retain critical skills in the public service. However, its introduction and implementation are to be driven by guidelines to avoid abuse. The White Paper, signed by the President John Mahama on April 9, 2013 says market premium should be paid to critical skills in short supply within the economy. It said market premium would not be based on qualification, job description, job title, grade or level but strictly on the scarcity of skills. �Market premium shall not be based on service classifications of occupational groups or jobs classified as essential services as specified under Section 175 of the Labour Regulation 20 of the Labour Regulations, 2007 (LI 1833),� it said.