Government is reported to have surpassed its revenue mobilization target for the first quarter of 2021 by more than Ghs 3 billion.
The revenue mobilization performance posited by government for Q1 2021, according to the Bank of Ghana (BoG) is higher than pre-pandemic mobilised revenues.
Speaking in a media interaction, Head of Research at the BoG, Philip Otoo, noted the increased revenues is reflective of the strong rebound of the economy, adding constituents of the BoG’s Composite Index of Economic Activity (CIEA) are now operating above pre-pandemic levels.
“Data shows that the economy has recovered significantly from the shocks of the first wave of the pandemic. The various constituents of the CIEA shows that all the indicators of economic activity are now operating above pre-pandemic levels which is a good sign,” he stated.
“The most interesting thing is that we realized that VAT receipts had gone up significantly, and that government revenues are doing far better than what was witnessed same time last year. The gap is about Ghs 3 billion more revenue, and this is an indication that economic activity is on the rebound and of course our CIEA had jumped to 13.9 percent from the 3.9 percent we saw last year,” he added.
Tax revenues mobilized in 2020 by statutory tax collection body, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), amounted Ghs 45,338.69 million, an increase of Ghs 2.5 billion of the revised target of Ghs 42,769.50 million for the year on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Authority was initially budgeted to collect total tax revenue of Ghs 47,253.95 million for the 2020 fiscal year, a 7.6% growth over the actual tax revenue collections of Ghs 43,907.12 million for the 2019 fiscal year.
The GRA for this year has set a provisional tax revenue target of Ghs 60 billion ($10.3 billion) for 2021, a 32.3 percent increase over the 2020 actual collection of Ghs 45.338 billion ($7.78 billion).
Total revenues mobilized in 2020 as pointed out in the 2021 Budget Statement amounted to Ghs 55 billion equivalent to 14.3 percent of GDP.
For this year, government is seeking to rake in total revenues of Ghs 72 billion equivalent to 16.7 percent of GDP.
