Ghana’s expenditure for 2010 amounted to GH¢12.2b – Dr Duffuor
Total expenditure for 2010 fiscal year amounted to GH¢12,219.3 million, equivalent to 24.9 per cent of GDP, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning announced on Thursday.
Presenting the mid-year review of the budget statement and economic policy and supplementary estimates for the 2011 financial year to Parliament in Accra, he said the outturn was 4.5 per cent higher than the budget target of GH¢11,696.7 million.
Dr Duffuor attributed the higher-than-budgeted spending to the rise in expenditure on goods and services, foreign-financed investment, arrears clearance, domestic interest payments and domestic investment.
He put the recurrent expenditure figure at GH¢8,045.8 million, adding it was 3.9 per cent higher than the budget target of GH¢7,744.5 million.
Dr Duffuor said capital expenditure for the period amounted to GH¢3,168.6 million, equivalent to 6.9 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“This compares with a budget target of GH¢2,843.2 million, equivalent to 6.4 per cent of GDP. On a year-on-year basis, total capital expenditure grew by 26.9 per cent.”
The Finance Minister said domestic-financed capital expenditure, which comprised payments to the Ghana Education Trust Fund, the District Assemblies’ Common Fund, Road Fund, Petroleum-Related Funds and other cash expenditure, totalled GH¢1,136.0 million, 13.6 per cent lower than the budget target of GH¢1,314.8 million.
“The outturn indicates a 61.9 per cent increase over the outturn recorded in 2009.”
Dr Duffuor said foreign-financed capital expenditure amounted to GH¢2,032.7 million, 33.0 per cent higher than the budget target of GH¢1,528.4 million.
“The increased foreign-financed capital expenditure was on account of higher than expected project loan disbursements, which was over 100 per cent higher than the budget target,” he said.
Speaking on the overall budget balance and financing for 2010, Dr Duffuor said the fiscal deficit on cash basis amounted to GH¢2,999.9 million, equivalent to 6.5 per cent of GDP against a target of GH¢1,945.1 million, equivalent to 4.4 per cent of GDP.
He said the deficit was financed from both domestic and foreign sources, adding that Net Domestic Financing of the budget amounted to GH¢2,142.6 million, equivalent to 4.6 per cent of GDP, against a target of GH¢1,261.8 million, equivalent to 2.8 per cent of GDP.
Dr Duffuor said the domestic primary balance for the period under review registered a surplus of 0.1 per cent of GDP, against a budget target of 0.7 per cent of GDP.
“The higher net domestic financing was partly the result of the urgent need for government to borrow GH¢445 million, equivalent to 1.7 per cent of GDP, to pay part of Tema Oil Refinery’s debt owed to the Ghana Commercial Bank,” he said.
Source: GNA