President John Dramani Mahama has assented to the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy (Repeal) Act, 2025, bringing an immediate end to the controversial one-percent levy that has been in place since 2021.
The President signed the repeal instrument on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, paving the way for the levy to be fully scrapped effective January 1, 2026.
The repeal Act, passed by Parliament last month, eliminates the 1% charge imposed on the supply of taxable goods and services under the Value Added Tax Act, as well as on all imports (except VAT-exempt items).
Introduced through the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy Act, 2021 (Act 1068) and signed into law on March 31, 2021, the levy was originally meant to help finance Ghana’s pandemic response, restore health infrastructure, and rebuild fiscal reserves at the height of the crisis.
Government has described the levy as one of several “nuisance taxes” that increased the cost of living and doing business, and its removal forms part of tax relief measures aimed at easing economic hardship on households and businesses.
The scrapping of the COVID-19 levy adds to a series of tax cuts announced by the Mahama administration since assuming office, including the recent abolition of the e-levy on electronic transactions below certain thresholds and the emissions levy.