Ghana collects GH¢2.7b tax revenue as expenditure hits GH¢4.2b first quarter 2012

Ghana recorded an amount of GH¢2.7 billion as tax revenue in the first quarter of 2012, a period which also saw total government expenditure adding up to GH¢4.2 billion, according to fiscal data provided by the Finance Ministry and released by the central bank last week.

The revenues, which were 45.8% higher than the outturn of GH¢1.8 billion recorded during the same period in 2011, were made from all the major tax categories – customs, direct domestic tax and indirect domestic tax.

“Total tax revenue amounted to GH¢2.7 billion and was 45.8% higher than the outturn of GH¢1.8 billion recorded during the same period in 2011,” the data said.

Despite total revenue and grants for the first quarter of 2012 amounting to GH¢3.5 billion, 25.1% higher than what was recorded during the same period in 2011, government’s expenditure amounted to GH¢4.2 billion.

“Total expenditure (including payments made for outstanding commitments)amounted to GH¢4.2 billion in the first quarter of 2012,” the Bank of Ghana (BoG) said.

Of the total expenditure, the BoG noted recurrent expenditure totalled GH¢2.6 billion against a target of GH¢2.7 billion, driven mainly by higher levels of emoluments, while domestically-financed capital investment amounted to GH¢427.6 million with foreign-financed capital expenditure amounting to GH¢178.9 million, 62.8% lower than the GH¢480.9 million target.

According to the central bank, these developments resulted in an overall budget deficit on cash basis (including divestiture and discrepancy) of GH¢835.3 million (equivalent to 1.2% of GDP), against a budget target of GH¢916.5 million (equivalent to 1.3% of GDP).

By EkowQuandzie