Ghana's Daily Minimum Wage now GHȻ5.24

The Daily Minimum Wage is now pegged at GHȻ5.24 It has been increased by 17 per cent from GHc4.48 by the National Tripartite Committee (NTC) at the consultation of its 2013 National Daily Minimum Wage (NDMW) meeting on April 30, 2013.

It takes effect from May 1, 2013.

This was contained in a communiqué jointly signed by the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Nii Armah Ashietey for government, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Employers Association (GEA), Mr Alex Frimpong for the President of GEA and General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Mr Kofi Asamoah for Organised labour.

“Any establishment, institution or organisation whose daily minimum wage is below the new National Daily Minimum Wage should adjust its wages upward accordingly,” it said.

It said the committee had recommended that the NDMW should be tax exempt.

The National Tripartite Committee reiterated its commitment to the improvement of incomes and productivity in both the public and private sectors.

"I think this is terrible... what happened to sustainability..."

Courtesy:
myjoyonline

Luxembourg to ease the secrecy surrounding its banks

Luxembourg has fought hard to maintain the secrecy of its banking system

Luxembourg has said it will ease the secrecy surrounding its banks.

It said it would implement rules on the automatic exchange of bank account information with its European Union partners from 2015. Calls for this have been increasing, as governments seek to raise more taxes to support their finances.

Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said Luxembourg would introduce the reforms in two years. "We can introduce [the rules] without any danger from January 2015," he said.

Luxembourg is a country of only 500,000 people, but its banks and other financial institutions have assets worth more than 20 times the country's economic output. Luxembourg's foreign minister, Luc Frieden, said at the weekend that he wanted to "strengthen co-operation with foreign tax authorities".

Last week, Germany signed a tax evasion treaty with Switzerland - another European banking centre known for its secrecy. The treaty is designed to give the German tax authorities the ability to claw back taxes from their citizens who may be hiding money in Swiss banks.

Story by:

BBC | News Business