Provisional data on budget execution indicated an overall fiscal deficit (commitment basis) of 2.0 per cent of GDP, against the budget target of 2.7 per cent of GDP, the July 2024 report on the Bank of Ghana’s monetary policy has indicated.

It said the deficit of GH¢21.3 billion was financed from both domestic and foreign sources.

The primary balance recorded a deficit of GH¢2.3 billion (0.2% of GDP), against the deficit target of GH¢2.4 billion (0.2% of GDP).

Total revenue and grants for the second quarter of 2024 was GH¢74.65 billion (7.1% of GDP), lower than the target of GH¢76.07 billion (7.2% of GDP).

The outturn, according to the report, represented a shortfall of 1.9 per cent with respect to the target, but a year-on-year growth of 24.6 per cent.

Domestic revenue totalled GH¢74.19 billion (7.1% of GDP), marginally below the target of GH¢74.41 billion (7.1% of GDP).

A mixed performance was observed for the various tax handles, the report said.

It mentioned that tax revenue, (comprising taxes on income & property, taxes on domestic goods and services and international trade taxes, excluding oil and gas related taxes), was GH¢59.70 billion (5.7% of GDP), higher than the target of GH¢59.30 billion (5.6% of GDP).

This represented a marginal over-performance by 0.7 per cent.

Taxes on income and property (made up of personal income tax (PAYE), company taxes [including taxes on oil], royalties from oil and minerals, and other direct taxes) totalled GH¢28.68 billion (2.7% of GDP), 4.5 per cent above the target of GH¢27.44 billion (2.6% of GDP).

All the components exceeded their targets with the exception “Personal taxes” and “Company taxes on oil”.

This was also higher than the GH¢23.73 billion collected in the corresponding period of 2023, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 20.8 per cent.

Taxes on domestic goods and services (consisting of domestic VAT, excise duty, GET Fund Levy, National Health Insurance Levy, and Communication Service Tax) was GH¢25.97 billion (2.5% of GDP), below the target of GH¢28.30 billion.

On year-on-year basis, the outturn represented a growth of 24.2 per cent.

Non-tax revenue raked in GH¢11.27 billion, missing the target of GH¢11.66 billion by 3.4 per cent, but recorded a year-on-year growth of 36.5 per cent.

This performance was mainly due to lower-than-budgeted lodgements, resulting mainly from the underperformance of “Fees & Charges”.

Dividend payments also mitigated the offset of the non-tax revenue handle from its target, said the report.

Taxes on international trade (comprising mainly import duties) was GH¢8.39 billion, above the target of GH¢7.63 billion by 10.0 per cent and a year-on-year growth of 39.1 per cent.

“Other revenue” of GH¢2.54 billion failed to meet its target of GH¢2.99 billion, recording a negative deviation of 15.1 per cent, but was above the total of GH¢2.44 billion collected in the corresponding period of 2023, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 4.1 per cent, detailed the report.

Grants received was GH¢457.3 million, significantly below GH¢1.65 billion programmed for the review period, thus, falling below its target by 72.3 per cent.

This outturn was lower than the GH¢864.7 million received in the corresponding period of 2023.