Dr. Ato Forson

Total Revenue & Grants for 2025 amounted to GH¢224.883 billion, about 16.1% of Gross Domestic Product, the March 2026 Monetary Policy Report by the Bank of Ghana has revealed.

This was lower than the target of GH¢229,949.7 million (16.4% of GDP).

Over the review period, domestic revenue totalled GH¢223.059 billion (15.9% of GDP), below the target of GH¢227.275 billion (16.2% of GDP).

The revenue outcomes reflected underperformances for tax revenue, oil and gas receipts, as well as grants.

Tax revenue, comprising taxes on income & property, taxes on domestic goods and services, international trade taxes, and oil and gas related taxes, was GH¢183.987 billion (13.1% of GDP), lower than the target of GH¢189.964 billion (13.6% of GDP).

This represented a negative deviation of 3.1% over the target, signalling systemic revenue leakages.

Non-Tax Revenue

Non-Tax Revenue, totalled GH¢27.870 billion, above the target of GH¢26.548 billion by 5.0%.

Compared with the outturn for 2024, this translates into a year-on-year growth of 0.5%.

This performance was mainly due to lower than programmed Dividend/Interest & Profits from Oil (CAPI) as well as Yield from Capping Policy for the collection period.

Oil and gas receipts were GH¢8.711 billion lower than the target of GH¢16.514 billion by 47.3%. This tax type also recorded a year-on-year decline of 56.1%.

Other Revenue

Other revenue of GH¢10.335 billion was above its target of GH¢9.568 billion, therefore overperforming its target by 8.0%. This outturn is 109.7% above GH¢4.928 billion collected in the corresponding period of 2024.

Grants received for January-December 2025 totalled GH¢1.824 billion, a shortfall of 31.8% from the programmed target of GH¢2.674 billion for the review period. This outturn was also higher than GH¢1.715 billion received in the corresponding period of 2024, translating into a year-on-year growth of 6.3%.

Total Expenditure

Total expenditures and net lending for the review period, totalled GH¢233.778 billion. This was below the target of GH¢269.496 billion.

Compensation of Employees was GH¢78.970 billion, higher than the target of GH¢76.203 billion. This outturn was above its target by 3.65 and recorded a 17.5% year-on-year growth.

In terms of fiscal flexibility, compensation of employees constituted 35.4% of domestic revenue mobilised during the period under review.

Use of Goods and Services totalled GH¢6.089 billion, lower than the expected target of GH¢6.671 billion by 8.7%. This points to some restraint on the part of the government to control discretionary spending.

This expense was also lower than GH¢11.509 billion received in the corresponding period of 2024, reflecting a year-on-year decline of 47.1%.

Interest Payments

Total interest payments of GH¢49.891 billion was above the target of GH¢46.792 billion for the review period. This outturn is 6.6% above the GH¢46.792 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2024.

The reduced interest payment was mainly on account of lower domestic interest payments as well as the appreciation of the local currency on the external side.

Nonetheless, the government described the fiscal performance for 2025 as marked by improved revenue buoyancy amid shortfalls in revenue outturns from targets.

It also stated that total government expenditure for 2025 reflected deliberate fiscal restraint and improved expenditure control.

It added that shortfalls in revenue performance was more than offset by a corresponding cut in government’s spending.

The fiscal deficit for the period under review was 1.0 percent of GDP, against the target of 2.8% of GDP. The primary balance recorded a surplus of 2.6% of GDP, against a primary surplus target of 1.5% of GDP.

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Total Revenue Falls Short in 2025; Spending Reduced By 13% - BoG

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