Ghana government generates GH¢2.2b and spends GH¢2.7b in first quarter 2011
The government of Ghana has shown a strong revenue performance in the first quarter of 2011, the Bank of Ghana has said. But it also showed an equally strong expenditure performance.
The government generated GH¢2.2 billion in revenue, representing 4.1% of GDP, the governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mr. Kwesi Amissah-Arthur told journalists at a press conference at the Bank in Accra. He said total Customs collections comprising import duties, import VAT, petroleum taxes and NHIL receipts amounted to GH¢807.9 million which is an annual growth of 67.3%.
However, government expenditure for the period amounted to GH¢2.7 billion, resulting in a narrow deficit of GH¢819.2 million (1.5 per cent of GDP) compared with a narrow deficit of GH¢621.4 million (1.4 per cent of GDP) for the corresponding period in 2010.
Mr. Amissah-Arthur added that excluding arrears clearance of GH¢209.9 million, the narrow deficit declined to GH¢552.4 million (1 per cent of GDP).
Domestic collections of direct taxes and VAT for the period amounted to GH¢752.4 million, he said.
According to Mr. Amissah-Arthur, the government recorded grants totaling GH¢139.2 million and the difference was made up of other revenues to the tune of GH¢500.5 million.
However, he said, government expenditure within the same period, excluding foreign financed capital expenditure amounted to GH¢2.7 billion, and that is 5.2% of GDP.
He explained that the deficit of GH¢819.2 million, was financed by a net domestic borrowing of GH¢570.6 million (1.1 per cent of GDP) and a net foreign loan inflow of GH¢248.6 million (0.5 per cent of GDP).
Citing decline in inflation, which currently stands at 9.02% in April, and projecting that inflation will remain close to 9% on a year-on-year basis, a factor that will be driven by a sustained and stable macroeconomic environment, anchored on a sound monetary and fiscal policy framework the central bank decided to cut the policy rate by 50 basis points to 13%, he announced.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
When is this country Ghana will learn to save money just as we do with our income and credit cards how smart can Ghanaian leaders start thinking outside the box and realise a nation need to be run in much more prudent annd smart way. The continent of Africa poverty is not the people but poor leadership at all levels of society.
TT if you dont understand macro economics, please dont comment. The performance of the economy is very robust and all the credit should go to the economic management team. The monetary pressures on the economy is being eased gradually that is why inflation is coming down. The economy is in the right direction. What we need now is sustainability so that the improvement in the economhy will trickle down – micro-economics.