Government realises GH¢153.3m from NHIL first six months of 2009

Accra, Aug. 25, Ghanadot/GNA - Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning on Tuesday said about GH¢153.3 million was realised from the National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL) within the first six months of 2009.

This was against a budget target of GH¢140.9 million with the out turn of 20.3 per cent higher than the out turn for the same period in 2008.

Presenting the supplementary budget to Parliament in Accra on Tuesday, Dr. Duffuor said one of the main objectives of the 2009 Budget was to slow down the excessive spending witnessed in 2008 and bring the economy back on the
path of fiscal consolidation.

“In this regard, the budget set an overall fiscal deficit target including divestiture receipts equivalent to 9.4 per cent of GDP,” he said.

He said provisional data for the first half of the year indicated that both revenue and expenditure were below their budget targets.

Dr Duffuor cited domestic Value Added Tax (VAT), excise and import duties as the main culprits for the negative deviation, whereas a lower external financing of debt and prudent fiscal stance of Government were used to contain the lower-than-expected inflows.

“Consequently, the fiscal deficit including divestiture receipts was GH¢965.4 million, equivalent to 4.5 per cent of GDP. This compares with a targeted deficit of GH¢1,400.5 million, equivalent to 6.5 per cent of GDP,” he added.

Dr Duffuor noted that results of the nation’s budget performance for the first half of 2009 indicated Government had been prudent in managing the country’s financial resources and the country was on course to achieving the fiscal objectives outlined in the 2009 budget.

The Finance Minister said provisional fiscal data for the review period indicated that total receipts, comprising domestic revenue, grants and other receipts amounted to GH¢4,095.2 million, equivalent to 18.9 per cent of GDP.

“The out turn was 16.3 per cent lower than the budget target of GH¢4,892.4 million but 4.3 per cent higher than the out turn for the corresponding period in 2008,” he said.

According to Dr Duffuor, the total tax revenue amounted to GH¢2,162.6 million, equivalent to 9.9 per cent of GDP which was 17.2 per cent higher than the out turn recorded during the first half of 2008.

He said direct taxes which comprised personal, self-employed, company and other taxes such as airport tax, amounted to GH¢708.5 million, 5.2 per cent higher than the budget target of GH¢673.3 million.

Dr Duffuor said this connoted that the outturn indicated a 29.6 per cent increase over the outturn of GH¢546.9 million for the same period in 2008.

He attributed the good performance in direct taxes mainly to the performance of personal income tax which recorded 33.8 per cent and other direct taxes 34.9 per cent.

The Finance Minister stated that revenue from indirect taxes comprising value added, petroleum and excise taxes amounted to GH¢751.1 million as against a budget estimate of GH¢870.0 million.
He said VAT collections recorded GH¢566.7 million, 8.4 per cent lower than the budget target of GH¢618.7 million with an out turn of 24.6 per cent.
Dr Duffuor said revenue from petroleum taxes was GH¢159.3 million, 27.9 per cent lower than the budget estimate of GH¢221.1 million and 22.2 per cent lower than the out turn for the same period in 2008.
He attributed the low performance of petroleum taxes mainly to the reduction in petroleum taxes.
The Finance Minister said the yield from National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL) for the receipts from non-tax revenue amounted to GH¢203.2 million,
equivalent to 0.9 per cent of GDP.
“Of this amount, GH¢120.7 million was retained by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), while GH¢82.5 million was lodged into the Consolidated Fund.”
He said total grant disbursements from development partners amounted to GH¢587.6 million, against a budget target of GH¢671.0 million with an out turn of 9.5 per cent higher than the out turn recorded during the first half of 2008.
Dr Duffuor said project grants amounted to GH¢273.6 million, 8.7 per cent higher than the budget target of GH¢251.8 million and 21.4 per cent higher than the outturn for the same period in 2008.
He said project loan disbursements were GH¢380.6 million, 17.0 per cent lower than the budget target of GH¢458.5 million and 37.7 per cent higher than the outturn for the first half of 2008, adding, “programme loans amounted to GH¢40.7 million against a budget target of GH¢523.1 million.”
Dr Duffuor attributed the lower-than-projected out turn for programme loans to the disbursement of World Bank budget support in July 2009 instead of June.

GNA