BUDGET: Tax revenues exceeds budget projections

Finance Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo on Thursday announced that tax revenues in 2001 exceeded the budget projections of ?6,255.2 billion by ?301.7 billion, because of yield from value added taxes and import duties.

Direct tax collections by the IRS recorded ?2,123.7 billion, compared to the budget projection of ?2,246.2 billion Mr Osafo-Maafo said in a budget statement he presented to Parliament on Thursday.

He said Value Added Tax yielded ?1,964.1 billion against a target of ?1,744.7 billion, showing a higher performance of 12.6 per cent. Petroleum taxes were ?646.6 billion, showing a shortfall of ?29.7 billion while import duties yielded ?1,268.5 billion exceeding the budget projection of ?1,086.2 billion by 16.8 per cent.

The Finance Minister said receipts from cocoa export duty amounted to ?300.0 billion, against the projection of ?255.1 billion, while the non-tax-revenue of ?347.7 billion was marginally below the budget target of ?350.0 billion.

Project grant and loans fell short of expectations. The inflows for loans and grants were ?1,113.8 billion and ?511.0 billion, against the targets of ?2,247.0 billion and ?707.3 billion respectively.

Programme loans and grant inflows also recorded ?1,055.6 billion and ?1,059.0 billion, respectively. These compare with the respective targets of ?1,224.9 billion and ?707.3 billion.

Mr Osafo-Maafo said the increase in programme grants reflects an increased confidence by our development partners in our economic and financial policies.

Divestiture receipts were ?154.4 billion, against a target of ?391.2 billion. The divestiture programme was stalled to allow for stock taking and auditing of the activities of the Divestiture Implementation Committee. This explains the less-than-projected divestiture proceeds.