Revenue falls short of target

The country’s revenue agencies failed to achieve their revenue targets for the first quarter of the year.

The Minister of Finance & Economic Planning, Seth Terkper, who made this known Thursday in Accra, said the total tax revenue collected in the first four months amounted to GH¢4,209.7 million, equivalent to 4.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This was 13.8 per cent lower than the target of GH¢4,884.2 million (5.5 per cent of the GDP).

The total revenue and grants for the period also totaled GH¢6,281.6 million, representing 7.1 per cent of the GDP as against the target of GH¢7,119.6 million, equivalent to 8.0 per cent of the GDP.

Furthermore, he indicated that the domestic revenue made up of tax and non-tax revenue totaled GH¢5,854.7 million, 8.9 per cent lower than the target of GH¢ 6,427.3 million but 36.7 per cent higher than the outturn for the same period in 2012, adding that this was due mainly to higher-than-expected non-tax receipts.

He said the total expenditure including clearance of outstanding commitments and arrears for the first four months amounted to GH¢ 9,674.4 million, about 10.9 per cent of GDP.

The sector minister said the shortfall in the total revenue and grants was mainly due to low disbursement of grants from development partners, a trend that continues from 2012 and lower than anticipated domestic revenue collections by Ghana Revenue Authority GRA.”

He stated that the low performance of tax revenue stemmed from low company profits and low imports.

Grant disbursements from development partners amounted to GH¢426.9 million or 38 per cent lower than the budgeted target and 36.9 per cent lower than the outturn recorded during the same period of 2012.

“The lower-than-expected outturn from grants is due to the non-disbursement of budget support from our multi-donor budget support partners as noted earlier, a trend that is continuing from 2012,” he indicated.

Again, he said the continuous growth in expenditure was mainly due to high levels of interest payments, as well as wage and other personal emolument expenditures.

Mr. Terkper observed that the re-imposition of fiscal stabilization levy, levy on imports, the increase in some excise duties and a review of fees and charges especially, user elements, were proposed revenue policies that were to be introduced by government. These are expected to be crystallized into appropriate measures when approved by Parliament, he stated, adding that expenditure measures will also be pursued to contain possible expenditures to meet the 2013 fiscal targets.