The Minister of Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam has presented the mid-year review of the 2024 budget of the Government of Ghana.
A key element in the fiscal policy is the summary of fiscal performance in 2023.
Here is an excerpt of the presentation by Dr Amin Adam:
44. Mr. Speaker, Government’s fiscal operations for 2023 shows significant
improvement in the fiscal balances, demonstrating an effective fiscal consolidation
with the primary balance on commitment basis reducing by over 4 percentage points
of GDP in 2023 relative to 2022.
45. The fiscal performance for 2023 is presented within the context of the revised
2023 overall deficit (on commitment basis) target of 5.7 percent of GDP, with a
corresponding primary deficit of 0.5 percent of GDP. On cash basis, the revised 2023
overall deficit target was 6.4 percent of GDP.
• Overall budget deficit (on commitment basis) was GH¢31.5 billion (3.7%
of GDP), compared to the MYB target of GH¢49.0 billion (5.7% of GDP);
• Primary balance (on commitment basis), was a deficit of GH¢2.2 billion
(0.3% of GDP), which was an improvement over the deficit target of
GH¢4.1 billion (0.5% of GDP), and a significant improvement from the
deficit 4.3 percent of GDP recorded in 2022;
• The overall budget balance (on cash basis) was a deficit of GH¢28.0 billion
(3.3% of GDP), which is much lower than the target of GH¢55.0 billion
(6.4% of GDP), and down from the deficit of 10.6 percent of GDP recorded
in 2022;
• Primary balance (on cash basis) was a surplus of GH¢1.4 billion (0.2% of
GDP), which is an improvement compared to the deficit target of GH¢10.1
billion (1.2% of GDP) and the deficit 3.2 percent of GDP recorded in 2022.
46. Mr. Speaker, provisional data on Government fiscal operations for the first half
of 2024 indicates that revenue mobilization and expenditure execution were broadly
in line with the target, resulting in an overall budget deficit on commitment basis of
GH¢21.3 billion. The corresponding Primary balance (on commitment basis) was a
deficit of GH¢2.3 billion (0.2% of GDP), compared to the deficit target of GH¢2.4 billion
(0.2% of GDP).
47. Mr. Speaker, the overall cash budget deficit was GH¢36.1 billion (3.4% of GDP),
compared with the deficit target of GH¢35.2 billion (3.3% of GDP). The corresponding
primary balance (on cash basis) was a deficit of GH¢17.1 billion (1.6% of GDP),
compared with the period target of GH¢8.8 billion (0.8% of GDP).
48. Mr. Speaker, Total Revenue and Grants for the first half of 2024 amounted to
GH¢74.7 billion,1.9 percent below the target of GH¢76.1 billion. Despite the shortfalls,
the outturn shows a nominal year-on-year growth of 24.6 percent and constitutes 42.3
percent of the Budget’s Total Revenue for the year. The revenue performance was
mainly driven by the strong performance in Non-oil Tax Revenue and Non-oil Non-Tax
Revenue which partly offset the shortfalls in oil receipts for the period.
49. Mr. Speaker, Total Expenditures (commitment) amounted to GH¢ 95.9 billion,
below the budget target of GH¢ 104.8 billion.
