Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has projected the government’s budget deficit target at 6.5 percent.
[contextly_sidebar id=”fy0oyMf1uYivdVWVyoMNS8QE4uHojlVD”]This represents 13.2 billion cedis of the difference between the government’s revenue expectations for 2017 compared to the expenditure targets for the period.
Government’s total revenue target for 2017 is estimated at 44.9 billion cedis against a targeted expenditure of 58.1 billion cedis, representing 28.6 percent of GDP.
Presenting the government’s first budget to Parliament today, Ken Ofori Atta also revealed that the deficit will be financed by domestic and international sources.
According to him, net domestic financing will amount to 14.6billion cedis; equivalent to 7.1 percent of GDP.
Also, foreign financing is expected to reach 1.3billion cedis; representing 0.6 percent of GDP.
The country ended 2016 with a budget deficit of 9 percent.
This according to the IMF’s latest review fell below the target of 51/4 percent.
“In 2016, the overall fiscal deficit (on a cash basis) deteriorated to an estimated 9 percent of GDP, instead of declining to 5¼ percent of GDP as envisaged under the IMF-supported program. The large deviation was mainly due to poor oil and non-oil revenue performance and large expenditure overruns. As a result, the government debt-to GDP ratio increased further to close to 74 percent of GDP at end-2016.”
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana