Presenting his mid-year review of the budget on the floor of Parliament, the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has indicated that despite observed overages in some expenditure, Total Expenditure fell below its target and amounted to GH¢23.756 billion of 9.8 percent GDP, against a target of GH¢24.553 billion amounting to 10.2 percent of GDP.
“This resulted in a fiscal deficit on cash basis of GH¢6.371.8 billion of 2.6 percent of GDP, against a target of GH¢5.73 billion of 2.4 percent of GDP”, he added.
In his presentation, Mr Ofori-Atta pointed out that the fiscal deficit has been set as the primary anchor and aims to reduce the overall fiscal deficit from 5.9 percent of GDP recorded at the end of 2017 to 4.5 percent.
He indicated that the provisional data for the period of 2018 shows Total Revenue and Grants amounting to GH¢17.384 billion being 7.2 percent of GDP, against a programmed target of GH¢18.813 million being 7.8 percent of GDP.
On Revenue Performance of the 2018 mid-year outlook, Mr Ofori-Atta reiterated that the Total Revenue and Grants of GH¢17.384 billion represents 34.1 percent of the annual target and a per annum growth of 14.8 percent despite being 7.6 percent below the programmed target of GH¢18.813 billion.
He again informed the house that on the provisional outturn for Total Revenue and Grants, non-oil Tax Revenue accounted for 73.7 percent, petroleum receipts from upstream petroleum activities amounted to 12.1 percent, non-oil non-tax revenue recorded 7.7 percent receipts from Energy Sector Levies, Grants consisted of 2.2 percent and Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contribution to National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL) recorded 1.4 percent.
Mr Ofori-Atta further explained that Non-Oil Tax Revenue amounted to GH¢12.807 billion, compared to a programmed target of GH¢14.308 billion.
“Total realised inflows from petroleum receipts amounted to GH¢2.104 billion, higher than the programmed estimate of GH¢1.544 billion. This includes unanticipated Corporate Income Taxes from oil of about GH¢373.5 million for the period”, he disclosed.
He however told the house that shortfall in non-oil Non-Tax Revenue is mainly as a result of lower-than anticipated reported MDAs’ Retention from Non-Tax receipts.
“It is important, however, to note that a modest inflow from the yield from MDAs’ IGF capping of about GH¢5.6 million or 7.2 percent of the programmed target of GH¢77.7 million was realised for the period”, he stated.
Source: GhanaJustice/S.Ayisi
