The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged Ghana and other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to accelerate reforms aimed at modernising their tax systems through digitalisation, streamlining inefficient tax expenditures, and improving enforcement with targeted compliance strategies.
The fund explained that these reforms were crucial to boosting domestic revenue mobilisation, a key step towards reducing dependence on external borrowing and ensuring sustainable economic growth.
It stressed that countries that strengthen tax systems could create fiscal space for essential investments in infrastructure, education and health care, while enhancing debt transparency and public trust in financial institutions.
Addressing a press conference at the October 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for SSA during the IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington on October 16, the Director, African Department at IMF, Abebe Aemro Selassie, stated that modernising the tax systems was not only about improving collections but also about empowering governments to finance their own development agendas and build resilience against future economic shocks.
Outlook for SSA
The report indicates that the outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa is showing resilience, despite a challenging external environment with uneven prospects in commodity prices, still tight borrowing conditions, and a deterioration of the global trade and aid landscape.
Economic growth is projected to remain steady at 4.1 per cent in 2025 with a modest pickup in 2026, supported by macroeconomic stabilisation and reform e?orts in key economies.
But this resilience cannot be taken for granted. Overlapping monetary, financial, external, and fiscal vulnerabilities are present in much of the region.
Uncertainty persists, and risks remain tilted to the downside. Domestic revenue mobilisation and strengthened debt management can help bolster macroeconomic stability while funding essential development needs.
In Ghana, the report noted that the pilot phase of the electronic value-added tax (e-VAT) and e-invoicing system commenced in late 2022 with around 50 large taxpayers, after which a phased onboarding began to cover about 600 large and high-revenue taxpayers.
Eventually, revenue from the targeted taxpayers increased by more than one-half.
Fairness in collection
Mr Selassie stated that these reforms must go beyond mere technical fixes to include measures that rebuild citizens’ confidence in tax institutions and ensure fairness in revenue collection.
He said adopting digital tools such as e-filing systems and data-driven compliance monitoring could curb leakages, reduce corruption, and make tax administration more efficient.
He advised countries to assess the social and distributional impacts of tax reforms to avoid overburdening vulnerable populations while ensuring that wealthier groups contributed their fair share.
He explained that improving public financial management and ensuring greater transparency in debt reporting would help lower borrowing costs, boost investor confidence, and attract private capital needed to drive inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
He added that by modernising their tax systems, countries like Ghana could strengthen fiscal resilience, reduce poverty, and create the stable environment needed to unlock long-term development opportunities.
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