TOTAL RECEIPTS in revenue collections for the first half of this year though witnessed some GH¢3.3 billion comprising GH¢2.7 billion in tax revenue and GH¢500.8 million in non-tax receipts, the Customs, Excise & Preventive Service (CEPS) fell short of its target.

“Due to lower collections of import duties and import value-added tax (VAT), CEPS collections were below target, recording GH¢1.0 billion,” information released by the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Ghana has indicated.

According to the MPC, income and property taxes collected by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) amounted to GH¢1.1 billion.

In addition, domestic VAT and excise duty collected by the VAT Service was GH¢445.9 million while non-tax revenue receipts made up of non-tax revenue and grants contributed GH¢141.5 million and GH¢394.8 million respectively to the total collections of the period.

Total government expenditure up to June 2010 amounted to GH¢3.8 billion (14.7 percent of gross domestic product) out of which GH¢688.9 million was for interest expenditure and GH¢3.1 billion for non-interest expenditure.

Noting that the budget recorded an overall cash deficit of GH¢821.8 million (3.2 percent of GDP), the MPC report said the deficit was in addition to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) debt settlement of GH¢445.0 million financed by a combination of net domestic borrowing of GH1.1 billion and net foreign inflows of GH¢119.7 million.

It said the net domestic financing (NDF) of the budget was within the mi-year target of GH¢1.2 billion.