Total non-oil revenue estimates at GHC26.1 billion

Mr Seth Terkper, Minister of Finance, has said the total non-oil revenue and grants for the 2015 fiscal year is estimated at GHC26.1 billion.

He said this represented 31.5 per cent increase over the projected outturn for 2014.

The Minister, who presented the 2015 Budget Statement to Parliament, on Wednesday, said the total revenue from oil was estimated at GH¢0.2 billion, representing 3.1 percent of Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

He said it was, therefore, the total revenue and grants, including oil, for the 2015, which was estimated at GHC33.0 billion, representing 24.0 percent of GDP.

He said the domestic revenue, made up of tax and non-tax revenue was estimated at GH¢430.9 billion, a 28.9 per cent higher than the projected outturn for 2014.

Mr Terkper said based on the macroeconomic framework, the specific macroeconomic targets to be pursued for the medium term (2015- 2017) include an average real GDP (including oil) growth rate of at least 6.8 per cent and an average non-oil real GDP growth rate of at least 4.4 per cent.

The rest are an inflation target of eight per cent with a band of ±2 percent, an overall Budget Deficit of 3.5 per cent by 2017 and Gross International Reserves, which would cover not less than four months of imports of goods and services by 2017.

He said the specific macroeconomic targets for 2015 are non-oil real GDP growth of 2.7 per cent, overall real GDP (including oil) growth of 3.9 per cent, an end year inflation target of 11.5 per cent, and overall budget deficit equivalent to 6.5 per cent of GDP; and Gross international reserves of not less than three months of import cover of goods and services.?

On resource mobilization for next year, the Sector Minister said, the total tax revenue was estimated at GHC25.4 billion, representing 18.8 per cent of GDP.

The Minister said this showed an increase of 31.0 per cent over the projected outturn for 2014, explaining that of this amount, non-oil tax revenue was estimated to grow by 25 per cent to GHC23.1 billion, equivalent to 18.8 per cent of non-oil GDP.

Mr Terkper said taxes on income and property were estimated to increase by 28.6 per cent to GHC11.2 billion in 2015, accounting for 44.2 per cent of total tax revenue.

“Of this amount, royalties and corporate income tax from oil is estimated at GHC2.3 billion, he said.

Meanwhile, taxes on goods and services were estimated at GHC9.4 billion, representing 46.7 per cent increase over the projected outturn for 2014 and 37.3 per cent of the estimated total tax revenue for 2015.

He said the 2014 estimate for taxes on goods and services was made up of GHC5.7 billion for total Value Added Tax, while Excise taxes, National Health Insurance Levy and Communication Service tax were expected to yield GHC2.4 billion, GHC1 billion and GHC306.2 million, respectively.

The Minister said the increase in international trade taxes was expected to be largely driven by import duties, estimated to be about 75.4 per cent of the estimated international trade taxes for 2015.

On non-tax revenue, he said it comprised mainly fees and charges by Ministries, Departments and Agencies, dividends received from public enterprises, and other internally-generated funds (IGFs), which was estimated at GHC5.3 billion, equivalent to 3.9 per cent of GDP or 17.1 per cent of domestic revenue.

Hr said: “An amount of GHC2.8 billion is expected to be retained by MDAs for the funding of their activities and the rest lodged into the Consolidated Fund. A total amount of GHC1.9 billion is estimated as non-tax oil revenue”.

He said grants and loans from Development Partners were estimated at GHC1.6 billion, equivalent to 1.1 percent of GDP.

“The expected grant constitutes 4.8 per cent to the estimated total revenue and grants for 2015,” he said.