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Tag: expensive

  • Most expensive World Cup worth US$300 billion kicks off

    Despite courting controversy over its selection to host the 2022 World Cup tournament, Qatar has spent about $300 billion in 12 years toward infrastructure to host the global football event.

    The Middle-East nation, with its capital in Doha, had earlier earmarked an official budget of $10 billion but had to splurge further funds to build seven new stadiums and refurbish an existing one to make it 8 stadiums to host the football tournament.

    To place the cost into further context, the most expensive World Cups previously were the 2014 tournament in Brazil and the 2018 edition in Russia, which both cost less than $15 billion.

    But oil-rich country Qatar is now ready to host visitors in about 20,000 new hotel rooms, a new railway metro and more than 1,100 miles of new roads constructed for the event, according to a Bloomberg report.

    Although the selection of Qatar has been marred with concerns about human rights abuses, labour conditions, and weather temperatures, millions of fans have geared up to witness the world’s best footballers take center stage.

    In hopes of efforts to redeem its image on the global stage, officials in Qatar are expected to also face major pushback from groups over their culture and moral standings.

    FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, has however defended the decision to host the World Cup in Qatar. According to him, suggestions that the tournament should not go ahead are merely ‘hypocritical and racist’ on the part of Western critics.

    At a press conference held on Saturday, November 19, Gianni Infantino said, “We are taught many lessons from Europeans, from the Western world. What we Europeans have been doing for the last 3,000 years, we should be apologizing for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons.”

    Ghana’s expenditure at 2022 World Cup in Qatar

    Ghana’s Minister for Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, on November 4, 2022, presented the country’s budget for the 2022 World Cup to Parliament.

    The address which was delivered before lawmakers highlighted the possible financial, sporting, tourism, and economic benefit of the World Cup tournament.

    Mustapha Ussif disclosed that the government has budgeted $14 million for the Black Stars’ campaign in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

    A breakdown of the budget indicates that Ghana is targeting a semi-final finish at the World Cup.

    However, the budget for the semi-final is pegged at $14,184,100 million should the national team finish in the top four of the competition.

    Mustapha Ussif said Ghana stands to gain between $27 million dollars to $42million in case it advances to the finals.

    But the for the three group matches against Portugal, South Korea, and Uruguay, the government has budgeted US$8,166,200.00 million.

    With the country already getting $1.5million and an additional $9 million for participating in the World Cup, Ghana stands to gain a profit of nearly $2 million by just participating in the group stages of the World Cup.

    He also confirmed that the Ghana Football Association has received $1.5 million from FIFA to augment the Black Stars’ preparations for the tournament which begins on November 20, 2022.

    According to him, part of the $1.5 million they received from FIFA was “useful to organizing the team’s friendly matches to improve technical and managerial readiness for Qatar.”

    The Black Stars of Ghana will begin their 2022 FIFA World Cup with an opening game against Portugal on Thursday, November 24 at the 974 Stadium in Doha, Qatar.

    In 2010, the government reportedly budgeted US$19 million for the tournament in South Africa.

    In 2014 when the country’s participation was rocked with chaos and disgrace, the government then reportedly spent $9,622,170 million on three matches the country participated in.

     

    Source: Ghanaweb

  • These are the most expensive World Cups in history

    The much anticipated FIFA World Cup kickstarts in 23 days as Qatar become the first Arabian national to host the biggest football festival in the world.

    32 countries out of the 211 national associations including the Black Stars of Ghana will be competing for the golden trophy worth $42 Million.

    Eight stadiums have been designed to host the 2022 Mundial and will be the first time that football will be played in stadias fully equipped with air conditioners.

    The huge investment made by the Qatari government to prepare for the tournament will make the 2022 World Cup the most expensive in the history of the competition which started in 1930.

    The 2022 FIFA World Cup according to multiple reports will cost the Qatari government the sum of $200billion which is about 14 times higher than the amount any country has invested while hossting the Mundial.

    Aside Qatar, we look at the top four other countries that invested billions of dollars to host the World Cup.

    Russia 2018 – $14.2 billion

    The host of the 21st edition of the FIFA World Cup spent $14.2 billion to prepare for the competition.

    Russia built some high-tech stadiums and imported turf from other countries to build their pitches for the competition.

    They used 12 stadiums to host the 64 games in the 2018 World Cup that was won by France.

    Brazil 2014 – $11.6 billion

    The record winners of the FIFA World Cup come third on our list for using $11.6 billion to host the competition which even resulted in various demonstrations in the country.

    Brazil used 12 stadiums (seven new and five renovated) in twelve cities to host the 2014 World Cup which saw the Black Stars exit from the group stages without a single point.

    Japan/Korea 2002: $7 billion

    Two Asian powerhouses, Japan and Korea combined to host the first World Cup in the 21st century and they didn’t disappoint the world.

    The stadiums in Daegu, Suwon, Yokohama, and Saitama all hosted 4 matches each, while the other 16 stadiums hosted 3 matches each.

    Though $7 billion was used to host the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Japan/Korea are 5th on the list because they combined resources to host the competition.

    Germany 2006: $4.3 billion

    Last on the list was the 2006 World Cup staged in Germany and won by the Italian national team.

    It was Germany’s second hosting of the competition, but they didn’t let that stop them from spending heavily as they invested $4.3 billion in the project.

    Germany also used 12 stadiums to host the World Cup just like Russia and Brazil while South Africa used 10 stadiums to host the 2010 edition.

    Watch the latest edition of GhanaWeb Mundial, Sports Debate and Sports Check below

    Sports Debate: What is the cause of Hearts of Oak’s problem?

    On this episode of the GhanaWeb Sports Debate, Joel Eshun interacted with Accra Hearts of Oak fans on the street to engage them about the problems in their team and how best they can be solved.

     

    Source: Ghanaweb

  • We can’t pay VAT anymore – Kumasi traders

    Some traders in Kumasi have called on the government to adopt more sustainable and business-friendly tax policies that would help the government to optimise its revenue mobilisation while promoting business growth.

    According to them, the current Value Added Tax (VAT) policy being implemented by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) “does not support our system.”

    “The tax structure and its administration do not support the features of our market. The policy introduced taxation for each item as it travels along the distribution channel,” the Executive Secretary of the Ashanti Business Community, Charles Kusi Appiah-Kubi said at a media briefing in Kumasi today (October 12, 2022).

    He said the current system where the tax was applied to every single item along the distribution line was making the cost of items more expensive and beyond the reach of customers.

    Point of entries

    Mr Appiah-Kubi proposed that the government should collect all tax at the point of entry of the goods into the country and allow those in the value chain to operate free of intimidation and harassment.

    He said the current practice where the same item was charged from the key distributor down to the last consumer, was overburdening the consumer and making goods more expensive.

    He said the tax should be collected just once at the point of entry, either at the ports or at the factories, thereby allowing the businesses to operate freely.

    “Government should take all its revenue from the points of entry. Take all the charges you want to charge at the point of entry or at the manufacturing and leave us alone,” he said.

    “We are ready to pay our corporate income tax and our Pay As You Earn (PAYE), but we can’t pay the VAT again,” he said.