Ghana’s Finance Minister to present mid-year budget on July 17

July 2, 2019 4:31 PM

Ghana’s Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta is expected to present the 2019 mid-year review and supplementary budget in Parliament on July 17.

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta

The Public Financial Management Act enjoins the Finance Minister to present a mid-year review to Parliament 6 months after the presentation of the main budget for the fiscal year.

In a press briefing last week, Mr Ofori-Atta hinted that the review is to announce new tax measures such as a review of the controversial tax on luxury vehicles announced in 2018.

He said that the government has considered the feedback from the public on the luxury vehicle tax and plans to review it.

The Finance Minister is also expected to announce other measures that will fetch more revenue for the execution of the budget.

Also, some macroeconomic targets set last year are likely to be reviewed in the minister’s presentation to parliament.

These were the set targets for the 2019 fiscal year.

• The overall Real GDP growth of 7.6 percent;

• The non-oil Real GDP growth of 6.2 percent;

• End-period inflation of 8.0 percent;

• Fiscal deficit of 4.2 percent of GDP;

• A primary surplus of 1.2 percent of GDP; and

• Gross International Reserves to cover not less than 3.5 months of imports of goods and services.