Finance Minister Dr Mohammed Amin Adam has disclosed that total revenue and grants for the first half of 2024 amounted to GH¢74.7 billion, below the target of GH¢76.1 billion, representing 1.9 per cent.
He said despite the shortfalls, the outturn showed a nominal year-on-year growth of 24.6 per cent and constituted 42.3 per cent of the budget’s total revenue for the year.
The Finance Minister said that strong non-oil revenue growth would balance oil revenue shortfalls in the first half of 2024.
He said the revenue performance was mainly driven by the strong performance in non-oil tax revenue.
Dr Amin said total expenditures amounted to GH¢95.9 billion, below the budget target of GH¢104.8 billion.
He said this at the mid-year budget review in Parliament, consistent with Section 28 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921).
The Act requires the Minister to provide a mid-year fiscal policy review of the budget statement and economic policy of the government.
The Finance Minister said provisional data on government fiscal operations for the first half of 2024 indicated that revenue mobilization and expenditure execution were broadly in line with the target.
That, according to him, resulted in an overall budget deficit on a commitment basis of GH¢21.3 billion.
Dr Amin noted that the corresponding primary balance on a commitment basis was a deficit of GH¢2.3 billion, which represented 0.2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), compared to the deficit target of GH¢2.4 billion, which represented 0.2 per cent of GDP.