Ghana’s Finance Minister Seth Terkper has disclosed that total revenue and grants was higher than the expected target for the first half of the year.

“Preliminary data for the first half of the year indicate that total revenue and grants was higher than the target for the period,” Mr. Terpker said.

At the same time, total expenditure including the clearance of arrears was lower than the target.

As a result, the cash fiscal deficit for the period was 2.3 percent of GDP against a target of 3.4 percent. This compares to a deficit of 4.3 percent of GDP for the same period in 2014.

The total revenue and grants for the period was 11.2 percent of GDP, against a target of 10.6 percent of GDP.

In nominal terms, the outturn was 5.4 percent higher than target and 32.9 percent higher than the outturn for the same period in 2014.

Ghana’s 2015 budget aims at reducing the fiscal deficit from 10.2 percent of GDP in 2014 to 7.3 percent of GDP in 2015.

There has been two adjustments of the budget deficit mainly on account of crude oil price developments.

Ghana’s good performance in total revenue and grants was mainly due to a strong growth in domestic revenue.