Economy

    Last published accounts show Ghana's AU levy raised 1.7 times its 2018-20 dues

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    Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa told AU ministers in Accra on Friday 13 November that only 18 of 55 member states have implemented the 2016 import levy. Ghana's latest published levy accounts end in October 2021. Later annual reports are mentioned in the 2025, 2026 and 2027 Budgets, but a 14 November search of the Finance Ministry website found only the 2021 report.

    On Friday 13 November Accra hosted the 27th Extraordinary Session of the AU Executive Council, on financing the Union. Mr Ablakwa told ministers that "only 18 of our 55 Member States have implemented the levy on eligible imports that we agreed to in 2016".

    That is under a third of members. The African Union's 13 November release carries the same figure, as do GBC, Radio Gold, Sweet FM and Pan African Television.

    Ghana is one of the states that charges the levy. In 2018-2020, the last three full years in the published accounts, the 0.2% African Union Import Levy collected GH¢212.0 million. In those years Ghana paid GH¢124.2 million to the AU as its assessed contribution.

    That is 1.71 cedis collected for every cedi paid, according to the Ministry of Finance's 2021 report on the levy, the latest on the ministry's website. The outflows are listed as "Payment for Assessed Contributions". The report says Ghana had honoured the assessments in full.

    What the levy is

    AU heads of state agreed in Kigali in July 2016 to charge 0.2% on eligible imports from outside Africa, the 2021 report says. Ghana passed the African Union Import Levy Act, 2017 (Act 952). The Ghana Revenue Authority collects it and pays it into an account at the Bank of Ghana.

    The money settles Ghana's yearly AU bill, which used to come out of the Consolidated Fund, the report says. Half of any surplus goes to the Consolidated Fund; half stays in the levy account.

    What the published numbers show

    Each year from 2018 to 2020, collections were between 1.57 and 1.81 times what Ghana paid. From January to October 2021 the levy raised GH¢80.1 million.

    The 2021 assessment of GH¢50.3 million was paid in August 2021: GH¢33.8 million to the AU regular budget and GH¢16.5 million to the Peace Fund. The report says that by the end of October 2021 Ghana had honoured all of that year's assessed contribution.

    The 2018-2020 surplus was GH¢87.8 million. The ministry said it had "initiated processes" to move GH¢43.9 million of it to the Consolidated Fund. In October 2021 the levy account held GH¢96.9 million, before that transfer.

    Then the public trail stops. The 2025 Budget Statement says the 2024 annual levy report was submitted to Parliament. The 2026 Budget says the 2025 report was laid.

    The 2027 Budget, at paragraph 4, says the 2026 report was laid. A search of the ministry's website on 14 November 2026 found only the 2021 report. So we cannot say what the levy has raised since October 2021, or whether the transfer was made.

    Later reports may exist in Parliament's papers or elsewhere. The Finance and Foreign ministries were not asked for the missing reports or for comment.

    Ghana's AU import levy: collected and paid (GH¢m)
    AU levy collected (GH¢m) Paid to AU as assessed contribution (GH¢m)
    20
    40
    60
    80 0
    71.6
    40.7
    70.5
    44.9
    69.9
    38.6
    80.1
    50.3
    2018
    2019
    2020
    Jan–Oct 2021
    (part year)

    These are the last figures published on the ministry's website; later annual reports were not found there on 14 November 2026. January–October 2021 is a part year. Source: Ministry of Finance, 2021 Annual Report on the AU Import Levy, Tables 1–2.

    The continental picture

    In Johannesburg in 2015, members promised to pay 100% of the AU's operational budget, 75% of its programme budget and 25% of its peace and security budget, Mr Ablakwa said. For 2027, members are projected to pay nearly 99% of operations but about 4% of programmes and about 12% of peace and security.

    "Put plainly: we pay for the lights, but we ask others to pay for the work," Mr Ablakwa said. He pledged that Ghana "will strengthen its domestic implementation efforts and report on its progress to this Council". The AU release, GBC, Radio Gold and Sweet FM carry the same 2027 budget-share figures.

    What people on X are saying

    Mr Ablakwa, who chaired the session, posted on Saturday that "Ghana announced our preparations to move into the Tier One Assessed Contributions category" (@S_OkudzetoAblak).

    In the same post he wrote that "The Accra Decision will address acute funding gaps, ensure Member States contribute at least 0.2% of GDP and attain a full membership commitment to the AU levy." The text of that decision had not been published when we checked. The existing 2016 levy, in the AU release, in Mr Ablakwa's welcome address and in Ghana's 2021 report, is 0.2% of eligible imports from outside Africa, not 0.2% of GDP.

    The GDP figure is his claim about the unpublished decision, not a description of the levy.

    The AfCFTA Secretariat said its Secretary-General called for "universal application of the 0.2% levy" (@AfCFTA). Kenya's Musalia Mudavadi wrote that Kenya backs a path "anchored on African ownership, the 0.2% levy, a unified results-based budget, a US$1 billion Peace Fund" (@MusaliaMudavadi).

    What it means

    The 2027 Budget refers to Ghana's Chairmanship of the AU in 2027. Ghana already charges the levy. On the last published figures, for 2018-20 and January-October 2021, collections more than covered the assessed contributions that were paid.

    That is not a statement of the current position. We cannot say whether collections still cover the dues, or how the surplus was used, until a later report is published.

    Limitations

    Cedi figures are nominal and end in October 2021; 2021 is a part year. We have no dollar figure for Ghana's dues or its current tier.

    The Finance and Foreign ministries were not asked for comment. Later reports may exist in Parliament's papers or elsewhere.

    Sources

    Comments

    Numbers behind the story +

    Figures used

    • AU levy collected versus 2018–20 assessed contributions paid: 1.71 times (GH¢212.0 million collected against GH¢124.2 million paid, from the 2021 MoF report totals for 2018–20, the last full years published on the ministry's website)
    • AU levy collected in 2018–20: GHS 212 million (Table 2 total GH¢211,962,061.98; GH¢124.2 million was paid as assessed contributions)
    • AU members that have implemented the 2016 levy: 18 states (Of 55, as Mr Ablakwa told the Accra session on 13 November 2026; also in the AU release)

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