The permanent removal of taxes on capital gains on listed securities in the country has been lauded by the Managing Director of Ghana Stock Exchange, Ekow Afedzie, describing it as critical to the growth of Ghana’s capital market.

A capital gain is described as an increase in the value of any asset including stocks, over a period of time.

While in some jurisdictions this gain would have been taxed, Government has for some time now been reinstating its tax exemptions on capital gains policy, which has encouraged investors, particularly local and retail ones to actively participate in the market.

In view of this positive development, Government in the 2021 budget decided to make this tax-exempt initiative permanent.

According to the Managing Director of the local bourse, Mr. Ekow Afedzie, the permanent policy on tax exemption will make Ghana’s capital market increasingly attractive to investors.

“We applaud the government of Ghana for this initiative. The reason this is important for us is that the stock market is a secondary market where people buy and sell. Now when people make gains from their transactions they won’t be taxed which should make the bourse more attractive. To develop our country we need equity capital, patient capital to enable companies to grow and expand, so they can employ more people and further grow the country.”

Mr. Ekow Afedzie was speaking on the occasion of the listing of Pesewa One Plc. on the Ghana Alternative Market, the special equity market for small and medium enterprises. Mr. Afedzie spoke of his disappointment with the performance of the market and outlines the steps they’ll be taking to revamp the market.

“We’ll be looking at the underwriting policy again. We’ll be introducing incubation programs to groom and nurture companies to be able to list on the market and raise money. Because the essence of GAX is to enable companies to raise long-term capital. In all, we want to make GAX attractive to investors and potential issuers who will use this market.”

The listing of Pesewa One PLc by the GSE of the GAX forms part of efforts by the GSE to revamp the alternative market. Pesewa ONE Plc, a Business Incubator, will be listing five million ordinary issued shares priced at GH¢ 0.60 at a market capitalization of GH¢3 million.