The group, Journalists for Business Advocacy is asking the Minister of Finance, Seth Terkper to cancel the National Fiscal Stabilisation levy, as a matter of urgency.

In a statement signed by Toma Imirhe, the group’s lead person on Economics and Finance, the group is concerned about government’s intentions to further extend the application of the National Fiscal Stabilisation Levy  to the end of 2017.

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“This planned extension of the levy will further increase the financial difficulties of all the companies on which it is being levied,” the statement said.

They added that it will be unwise for government to implement both the new Income Tax Act 2015, (Act 896), which has introduced sweeping reforms and adjustments which are already biting businesses and individuals hard, and as well extend the National Financial Stabilisation Fund to 2017.

“We wish to remind the government that when the NFSL was reintroduced, effective mid-July 2013, the legislation backing its establishment set its duration at 18 months. Therefore, the levy should have been withdrawn at the end of 2014, but this did not happen. Rather, the government now intends to apply it until the end of 2017,” the statement added.