Customers are seen at a South African MTN Group store at the Mall of the South in Johannesburg, South Africa, November 4, 2022. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko Acquisition of licensing rights
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 15 (Reuters) – MTN Group ( MTNJ.J ) will invest $1 billion in Ghana over the next five years, the mobile operator said on Wednesday, after the government relieved its Ghanaian unit of tax liabilities of about 773 million dollars.
The investment comes after the Ghana Revenue Authority cleared the company of back taxes earlier this month after the incident sparked a diplomatic backlash from South Africa’s foreign minister.
The tax demand was initially issued after the revenue authority audited the company for the years 2014 to 2018 and concluded that it had understated its revenue by around 30% during the period.
MTN CEO Ralph Mupita said the company is committed to investing in Ghana despite short-term headwinds.
“Certainly, macroeconomic conditions are very difficult in the short term. That means we focus on the medium and long term and see growth,” he said in a statement.
MTN intends to invest the amount in 5G technology, which it believes will spur faster growth across the board, he said.
One of Africa’s largest economies, Ghana is bracing for its worst financial crisis in a generation as capital outflows, a crushing debt service burden and rapid currency devaluation wreak havoc on public finances and households.
Its consumer inflation slowed slightly to 53.6% year-on-year in January from a more than two-decade high of 54.1% the previous month, data showed earlier on Wednesday.
Reporting by Nellie Peyton and Bhargav Acharya Editing by Promit Mukherjee, Kirsten Donovan
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