A new report on Ghana’s 2024 budget performance reveals a deeply worrying fiscal outcome in which significant expenditure overruns effectively erased strong revenue gains, ultimately derailing the government’s fiscal consolidation targets under the IMF-supported Extended Credit Facility (ECF) Programme.
The analysis, prepared by Hamid Abdel-Mumuni and Jennifer Moffatt for BudgiT Ghana, criticises weak budget discipline and warns that the unfavourable fiscal outturn “undercuts the current push for fiscal reform.”
The most critical finding is the dramatic collapse of the primary balance, a central benchmark for the IMF programme. Instead of achieving the programmed surplus of 0.5% of GDP, the government recorded a primary deficit of -3.9% of GDP (GH¢45.86 billion). The report stresses that this outcome “is especially worrisome because any lapse in this area basically undercuts the current push for fiscal reform.” The overall fiscal deficit also widened sharply, reaching GH¢92.65 billion (7.9% of GDP) compared to the target of GH¢42.53 billion (4.2% of GDP). Total expenditure rose to GH¢279.2 billion, exceeding budget provisions by 27.1%, while non-interest primary spending climbed 35.3% above target, reflecting what the report describes as “intractable spending pressures”. This deterioration, the authors note, signals that Ghana remains dependent on borrowing to fund interest payments and basic government operations, a trend that “threatens the credibility of the nation’s fiscal adjustment trajectory.”
Amid the expenditure overruns, the report highlights revenue mobilisation as a relative bright spot. Total revenue and grants amounted to GH¢186.6 billion, surpassing the revised target by 5.3%. The performance was supported by non-oil tax revenue, which exceeded projections by 3.7%, and strong oil and gas earnings (GH¢19.8 billion) driven by improved crude oil output and favourable global prices.
The fiscal performance across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) was uneven. The Ministry of Roads and Highways exceeded its expenditure programme—executing 102.9% due to accelerated infrastructure works—while the education and health sectors reached 99.3% and 99.0% execution, respectively, reflecting sustained prioritisation of social services. In contrast, sectors tied to industrialisation and job creation lagged behind. The Ministry of Railway Development achieved just 54.4% of planned expenditure due to project delays and funding constraints, while the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture executed 55.8%, hindered by limited capital spending.
The report concludes that Ghana’s 2024 fiscal performance “underscores the pressing need for stronger expenditure containment, revenue diversification, and stricter enforcement of fiscal responsibility frameworks,” cautioning that “without concrete reforms, Ghana risks perpetuating fiscal vulnerabilities that threaten macroeconomic stability and long-term development goals.”
