By According to the July 2024 Monetary Policy Report by the Bank of Ghana, total expenditures, including arrears clearance and discrepancies, for the first half of 2024 were estimated at GH¢101.21 billion.
This accounts for 9.6% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
However, this figure was 3.4% below the target of GH¢104.77 billion (which equates to 10% of GDP), despite a significant year-on-year increase of 66.5%.
Compensation
Compensation of employees, including wages, salaries, pensions, gratuities, and other related expenditures, amounted to GH¢29.30 billion.
This figure was slightly below the target of GH¢29.96 billion, falling short by 2.2% despite a robust year-on-year growth of 48.4%.
In terms of fiscal flexibility, compensation of employees constituted 39.5% of domestic revenue mobilized during the period under review.
Goods and services
The expenditure on Goods and Services amounted to GH¢5.77 billion, surpassing the expected target of GH¢4.56 billion by 26.6%.
However, this amount was lower than the GH¢6.25 billion spent during the same period in 2023, representing a year-on-year decrease of 7.6%.
Interest payments
Total interest payments of GH¢19.03 billion fell below the envisioned target of GH¢26.35 billion for the review period.
This outturn compares with GH¢13.39 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2023.
The decreased interest payment was mainly on account of a partial freeze on debt service because of the debt restructuring programme by the government to help resolve Ghana’s fiscal and debt vulnerabilities.
Grants
Grants to other government units made up of National Health Fund, Education Trust Fund, Road Fund, Energy Fund, District Assemblies Common Fund, Retention of IGFs, transfer to GNPC, Ghana Infrastructure Fund and other earmarked funds all summed up to GH¢19.70 billion, higher than the target of GH¢17.55 billion.
This resulted in a positive deviation of 12.2%. It also recorded a year-on-year growth of 83.4%.
Capital expenditure
Capital expenditure for the period under review was GH¢13.91 billion (1.3% of GDP), lower than the programmed target of GH¢19.13 billion (1.8% of GDP) by 27.2 percent.
This outturn represented a year-on-year growth of 107.8%.
Other expenditure
Other expenditure for the second quarter of 2024 was GH¢12.98 billion, 95.1% above the target of GH¢6.65billion.
Out of this, the energy sector payment shortfalls totalled GH¢10.60 billion (1.0% of GDP), higher than the programmed target of GH¢2.84 billion (0.3% of GDP).
This contributed to the resulting positive deviation of 95.1%. This outturn of GH¢12.98 billion dwarfed the GH¢3.76 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2023.
