National Health Insurance Levy Increased By 1 Percent

As part of revenue measures to help recover Ghana's economy, the government has announced a one per cent increment (1%) in the National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL). This is to say that the hitherto 2.5% NHIL charge on goods and services has increased to 3.5%.

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Majority Leader in Parliament disclosed this during the presentation of the 2021 budget statement in Parliament on Friday, March 12, 2021.

In addition to the slight increment in NHIL, the government has introduced new levies namely; Sanitation and Pollution levy, the Energy sector recovery levy, the financial sector clean-up levy and the Covid-19 health levy.

According to the Parliamentary Affairs Minister who read the 2021 budget statement on behalf of the Finance Minister Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta, these newly introduced levies are intended to be used in the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines, the establishment of 14 medical waste treatment facilities and also to assist in the construction of 33 major health projects and the recruitment of more health professionals.

The government also announced the 'Agenda 111' project that will see to the construction of a 100-bed capacity hospital in districts with no hospitals.