Ghana and Zimbabwe hit by tax increases on goods

The finance ministers of Ghana and Zimbabwe have been delivering their annual budgets amid the cost-of-living crisis that has hit the whole world.

And both announced an increased in Value Added Tax (VAT), which you pay when you buy goods.

In Ghana, Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta - who is under pressure to resign because of the deepening economic crisis - pushed it up from 12.5% to 15%.

But in some good news for Ghanaians, the finance minister cut the tax on all electronic transactions from 1.5% to 1%, barely a year after its introduction.

In Zimbabwe, the tax on foreign currency transactions has been halved to 2% while a banking tax for the purchase of wheat has been dropped to keep bread prices low.

This article originally appeared on BBC News

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