{"id":444329,"date":"2017-12-06T16:21:30","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T16:21:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2017\/12\/06\/cash-will-be-scarce-in-2018-ken-thompson\/"},"modified":"2017-12-06T16:21:30","modified_gmt":"2017-12-06T16:21:30","slug":"cash-will-be-scarce-in-2018-ken-thompson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/12\/06\/cash-will-be-scarce-in-2018-ken-thompson\/","title":{"rendered":"Cash will be \u2018scarce\u2019 in 2018 \u2013 Ken Thompson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"medsection1\">\n<!-- End of html generated by this->header() --><\/p>\n<p class=\"floatLeft\">Business News of Wednesday,  6 December 2017<\/p>\n<p class=\"floatRight\"><strong>Source: <\/strong>thebftonine.com<\/p>\n<p>2017-12-06<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-left\">\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/25574698.295.jpg\" alt=\"Ken Thompson CEO\" title=\"Ken Thompson CEO\" width=\"295\" height=\"294\" \/><span class=\"image_caption\"><span>Mr. Thompson noted that government must come up with incentives to tax the informal sector<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"noPrint\">\n<div id=\"537626303\" style=\"width:300;height:250;margin:0;padding:0\">\n<p>\t\t  <noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" name=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" src=\"http:\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/afr?auid=537626303&amp;cb=151125813973067\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><a href=\"\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/rc?cs=b2ad7fa7fd&amp;cb=151125813973067\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/1512577290_515_ai\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"clear:right\">Outspoken financial analyst Kenneth Thompson is predicting scarcity of cash in the economy next year, despite the optimistic tone of government in the 2018 budget.<\/p>\n<p>Alluding to the budget\u2019s allocation of more than 80 percent of revenue to the payment of salaries and interest on loans, Mr. Thompson noted that unless government comes up with incentives to tax the informal sector there will be little left for investment in infrastructure and development.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe budget makes a concerted effort at addressing some of our issues, but unfortunately it does not tackle the big-ticket risk items. The clearest examples of the budget ignoring the proverbial \u2018elephant in the room\u2019 are the issues of interest we pay on our debts and compensation to employees,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnless these are dealt with and government revenue is increased, cash for investment in the economy remains low. And without investment there is very little economic activity. Cash is \u2018tight\u2019 and it does not appear 2018 will be any better,\u201d he said in his analysis of the 2018 budget.<\/p>\n<p>On the side of revenue, which helps shore-up government\u2019s spending plans, Mr. Thompson noted that targets in the 2018 budget \u201cseem overly ambitious\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He believes that with the budget seeking to increase revenues by 25 percent to spend on its political programmes and projects, including the National Development Bank and Nation Builders Corp, without any commensurate effort to increase the tax base of the economy could be its Achilles\u2019 heel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur inability to raise these revenues could threaten the pet politician programmes, and credibility issues for government could begin to creep in. What we need to do is to increase the tax base. Let us find ways to tax the informal sector in a meaningful way through appropriate incentives which will encourage them to pay.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs an example, government could at the very least prevent the registration of any asset of significant value without showing evidence of tax payments \u2013 e.g. vehicles, real estate, companies etc.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the tax base is not expanded, expect the GRA to find new \u2018creative\u2019 ways of extracting more tax from the same sources. Expect to pay relatively more tax whatever your business, even if it is because of \u2018inflexible\u2019 GRA officials who are less understanding of your \u2018inventive\u2019 tax avoidance excuses,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n<p>Though government has projected an ambitious overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 7.9 percent from a low of 3.7 percent in 2016, the heart of this growth is being driven by the oil sector on the back of the FPSO that was launched in February 2017 \u2013 while non-oil growth, the main engine of the economy, rather declined from 5 percent to 4.8 percent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was because the private sector saw very little growth as capital expenditure was reduced significantly. Real private sector activity is still challenged, and industrial activity is under heavy strain,\u201d Mr. Thompson added.<\/p>\n<p>Juxtaposing operations at Dalex Finance, where he is the Managing Director, he noted that the company witnessed a significant reduction in demand for loans from SMEs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthough this may be anecdotal evidence, I strongly believe that it could signal a broader trend in the industry and may be symptomatic of the challenges confronting the SME sector: the sector that is supposed to be the main driver of economic activity and the engine of growth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do not believe that there are enough reliefs for the real sector. I also believe that 2018 could be a year of low demand and challenged turnover for local businesses. I would urge local businesses to err on the side of caution with their business projections for 2018,\u201d he advised.<\/p>\n<p><!-- uploaded by: 43 updated by: -1 --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Start of html generated by this->footer() -->\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style=\"display:none\" rel=\"follow\" href=\"http:\/\/megatheme.ir\/\" title=\"\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633\">\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Business News of Wednesday, 6 December 2017 Source: thebftonine.com 2017-12-06 Mr. Thompson noted that government must come up with incentives to tax the informal sector Outspoken financial analyst Kenneth Thompson is predicting scarcity of cash in the economy next year, despite the optimistic tone of government in the 2018 budget. Alluding to the budget\u2019s allocation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":442049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-444329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cash will be \u2018scarce\u2019 in 2018 \u2013 Ken Thompson - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/12\/06\/cash-will-be-scarce-in-2018-ken-thompson\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Cash will be \u2018scarce\u2019 in 2018 \u2013 Ken Thompson - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Business News of Wednesday, 6 December 2017 Source: thebftonine.com 2017-12-06 Mr. Thompson noted that government must come up with incentives to tax the informal sector Outspoken financial analyst Kenneth Thompson is predicting scarcity of cash in the economy next year, despite the optimistic tone of government in the 2018 budget. Alluding to the budget\u2019s allocation [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/06\\\/cash-will-be-scarce-in-2018-ken-thompson\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/06\\\/cash-will-be-scarce-in-2018-ken-thompson\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Cash will be \u2018scarce\u2019 in 2018 \u2013 Ken Thompson\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-06T16:21:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/06\\\/cash-will-be-scarce-in-2018-ken-thompson\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":623,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/06\\\/cash-will-be-scarce-in-2018-ken-thompson\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/06\\\/cash-will-be-scarce-in-2018-ken-thompson\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/06\\\/cash-will-be-scarce-in-2018-ken-thompson\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/06\\\/cash-will-be-scarce-in-2018-ken-thompson\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cash will be \u2018scarce\u2019 in 2018 \u2013 Ken Thompson - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/06\\\/cash-will-be-scarce-in-2018-ken-thompson\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/06\\\/cash-will-be-scarce-in-2018-ken-thompson\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-06T16:21:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/06\\\/cash-will-be-scarce-in-2018-ken-thompson\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/06\\\/cash-will-be-scarce-in-2018-ken-thompson\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cash will be \u2018scarce\u2019 in 2018 \u2013 Ken Thompson - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/12\/06\/cash-will-be-scarce-in-2018-ken-thompson\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Cash will be \u2018scarce\u2019 in 2018 \u2013 Ken Thompson - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Business News of Wednesday, 6 December 2017 Source: thebftonine.com 2017-12-06 Mr. Thompson noted that government must come up with incentives to tax the informal sector Outspoken financial analyst Kenneth Thompson is predicting scarcity of cash in the economy next year, despite the optimistic tone of government in the 2018 budget. 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