They said the gesture meant government was listening to the cry of the masses and had withdrawn the tax, as announced at the mid-year review of the budget on Monday.

The residents were sharply not happy about the increases on petroleum levy and the communication or talk tax.

A few alleged that the luxury vehicle tax was removed and shifted to hike the communication tax and petroleum levy.

Some residents were hopeful the increase in the school feeding programme from 1.6 million to 2.6 million pupils would benefit schools in their communities and villages and prayed for more tax reliefs.

Mr Roland Dabi, Lecturer, Evangelical Presbyterian University College (EPUC), School of Business, Department of Accounts and Finance said a major positive of the review was measures to strengthen the financial sector and fiscal policy by increasing the minimum capital requirement from GHC 120 million to GHC 400 million, which collapsed many indigenous banks but had starting to yield good results.

He said government's strategy to strengthen the agricultural sector under some of its flagship policies, One-Village-One-Dam (1V1D), One- District-One-Factory (1D1F), Planting for Food and Jobs and its animal rearing components, if properly administered, would grow the economy.

He said that would reduce pressure and demand for foreign currencies and increase the value of the local cedi.

Mr Dabi said cutting-edge measures in budget were not fully implemented resulting in the missing of targets by revenue mobilization agencies, while government expenditure increased.

Mr Harrison K. Belley, Head of Department, Governance Studies, EPUC, said mid-year budget reviews must concentrate on updating Ghanaians on how the budget approved were utilised rather than using the occasion to require for more spending.

He said apart from fulfilling the Constitutional obligation, the event should not be used as a platform to request for additional supplementary budget, in this case, GHC 6.3 billion.