Enhancing local revenue mobilisation post-COVID-19

Ghana practises a decentralised form of governance where administrative and financial decisions are devolved to the local governments. Within this framework, local governments have the autonomy to internally generate funds (IGFs) from a range of sources to deliver on their mandates. Over the years, however, the local governments have been overly dependent on central government transfers, with approximately 20 percent of their total budget financed by internally generated funds.

The current pandemic brings into sharp focus the need for local governments to improve revenue mobilisation and to reduce their over-reliance on the central government. As the pandemic unfolds, there is an urgent need for researchers and policymakers to explore policy options to enhance revenue mobilisation, particularly at the local government levels.

IGC Ghana and the Ministry of Finance host a webinar that focuses on how appropriately designed and implemented information and technology systems can increase local revenue mobilisation without the need to impose new local taxes or tax rates. The presentation is based on the IGC's project "Improving tax collection capacity in the developing world", "Building Tax Capacity at Scale" and a follow-up pilot study funded by JPAL.

The research was conducted in collaboration with the Melchia Investments Ghana Ltd, Office of the Head of Local Government and the Fiscal Decentralisation Unit of MoF. 

If you have any questions about the event, please contact James Dzansi at [email protected]