Ghana recorded a government budget surplus of 19720.22 GHS Million in December of 2022. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Ghana Government Budget Value - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

In 2024, the budget balance in relation to the gross domestic product (GDP) in Ghana was estimated at about -7.68 percent. Between 1980 and 2024, the figure dropped by approximately 2.95 percentage points, though the decline followed an uneven course rather than a steady trajectory. From 2024 to 2030, the budget balance will rise by around 5.20 percentage points, showing an overall upward trend with periodic ups and downs.The indicator describes the general government net lending / borrowing, which is calculated as revenue minus total expenditure. The International Monetary Fund defines the general government expenditure as consisting of total expenses and the net acquisition of nonfinancial assets. The general government revenue consists of the revenue from taxes, social contributions, grants receivable, and other revenue.

Ghana recorded a Government Budget deficit equal to 4.80 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product in 2024. This dataset provides - Ghana Government Budget - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Ghana GH: Primary Government Expenditures as % of Original Approved Budget data was reported at 135.103 % in 2011. This records an increase from the previous number of 100.854 % for 2010. Ghana GH: Primary Government Expenditures as % of Original Approved Budget data is updated yearly, averaging 109.488 % from Dec 2006 (Median) to 2011, with 6 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 135.103 % in 2011 and a record low of 90.938 % in 2009. Ghana GH: Primary Government Expenditures as % of Original Approved Budget data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Ghana – Table GH.World Bank.WDI: Government Revenue, Expenditure and Finance. Primary government expenditures as a proportion of original approved budget measures the extent to which aggregate budget expenditure outturn reflects the amount originally approved, as defined in government budget documentation and fiscal reports. The coverage is budgetary central government (BCG) and the time period covered is the last three completed fiscal years.; ; Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA). Ministry of Finance (MoF).; ;

2011 Ghana Budget

2012 Ghana Budget

Ghana GH: Net Incurrence of Liabilities: Total: % of GDP data was reported at 6.582 % in 2010. Ghana GH: Net Incurrence of Liabilities: Total: % of GDP data is updated yearly, averaging 6.582 % from Dec 2010 (Median) to 2010, with 1 observations. Ghana GH: Net Incurrence of Liabilities: Total: % of GDP data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Ghana – Table GH.World Bank: Government Revenue, Expenditure and Finance. Net incurrence of government liabilities includes foreign financing (obtained from nonresidents) and domestic financing (obtained from residents), or the means by which a government provides financial resources to cover a budget deficit or allocates financial resources arising from a budget surplus. The net incurrence of liabilities should be offset by the net acquisition of financial assets.; ; International Monetary Fund, Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files.; Weighted Average;

Government Spending in Ghana increased to 115227.41 GHS Million in 2024 from 85671.30 GHS Million in 2023. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Ghana Government Spending - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Ghana Hotel Room Occupancy Rate: Budget Hotel data was reported at 22.000 % in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 18.000 % for 2022. Ghana Hotel Room Occupancy Rate: Budget Hotel data is updated yearly, averaging 20.000 % from Dec 2020 (Median) to 2023, with 4 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 22.000 % in 2023 and a record low of 16.000 % in 2020. Ghana Hotel Room Occupancy Rate: Budget Hotel data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Ghana – Table GH.Q004: Hotel Room Occupancy Rate.

Ghana GH: Net Incurrence of Liabilities: Total data was reported at 3,030.681 GHS mn in 2010. Ghana GH: Net Incurrence of Liabilities: Total data is updated yearly, averaging 3,030.681 GHS mn from Dec 2010 (Median) to 2010, with 1 observations. Ghana GH: Net Incurrence of Liabilities: Total data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Ghana – Table GH.World Bank: Government Revenue, Expenditure and Finance. Net incurrence of government liabilities includes foreign financing (obtained from nonresidents) and domestic financing (obtained from residents), or the means by which a government provides financial resources to cover a budget deficit or allocates financial resources arising from a budget surplus. The net incurrence of liabilities should be offset by the net acquisition of financial assets.; ; International Monetary Fund, Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files.; ;

In the second quarter of 2023, government expenditure on employee compensation amounted to nearly **** billion Ghanaian cedis (GHS) (approximately one billion U.S. dollars). From the second quarter of 2022 to the second quarter of 2023, Ghana government spending on employee compensation increased by around ***** percent.

Ghana GH: Military Expenditure as % of General Government Expenditure data was reported at 1.740 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 1.465 % for 2016. Ghana GH: Military Expenditure as % of General Government Expenditure data is updated yearly, averaging 2.231 % from Dec 1988 (Median) to 2017, with 30 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 3.440 % in 2000 and a record low of 1.422 % in 2010. Ghana GH: Military Expenditure as % of General Government Expenditure data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Ghana – Table GH.World Bank.WDI: Defense and Official Development Assistance. Military expenditures data from SIPRI are derived from the NATO definition, which includes all current and capital expenditures on the armed forces, including peacekeeping forces; defense ministries and other government agencies engaged in defense projects; paramilitary forces, if these are judged to be trained and equipped for military operations; and military space activities. Such expenditures include military and civil personnel, including retirement pensions of military personnel and social services for personnel; operation and maintenance; procurement; military research and development; and military aid (in the military expenditures of the donor country). Excluded are civil defense and current expenditures for previous military activities, such as for veterans' benefits, demobilization, conversion, and destruction of weapons. This definition cannot be applied for all countries, however, since that would require much more detailed information than is available about what is included in military budgets and off-budget military expenditure items. (For example, military budgets might or might not cover civil defense, reserves and auxiliary forces, police and paramilitary forces, dual-purpose forces such as military and civilian police, military grants in kind, pensions for military personnel, and social security contributions paid by one part of government to another.); ; Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Yearbook: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security.; Weighted average; Data for some countries are based on partial or uncertain data or rough estimates.

Ghana has made important strides in improving fiscal performance. Institutional and policy changes on the tax side have over the past five years resulted in consistent real increases in tax revenue resources. This has allowed an elimination of the fiscal current deficit, an expansion, along with door financing, of the public expenditure program, and retirement of public domestic debt. In 1990 fiscal policy continues to target improved public savings. In part this is to offset expected limited growth in the short-term in private savings, and also to contain reliance on foreign savings as the current external account deficit, adjusts to the deterioration in world cocoa prices. Looking ahead, the challenge facing the government is to increase the contribution made by the budget towards economic growth. Improvements will come at various levels. Further progress will need to be made in using the budget to generate public savings. Recovery from the previous deterioration in civil service compensation and allocations to operations and maintenance will need judicious balancing to ensure that incentives are improved while adequate material support is provided to operate public investments efficiently. Institutional strengthening in budget preparation and implementation remain critical in the central ministries and executing agencies. Rigorous application of established criteria for project selection, consistent with up-to-date sector strategies, with greater attention being given to overcome systematic institutional problems in the physical and financial implementation of projects, is needed to ensure that the maximum growth impact is being achieved with the budget.

This review is divided into seven chapters. Chapter one, provides an overview of the structure and objectives, as well as the formulation of the development budget, it reviews the history and scope of public investment program (PIP), and the criteria for project selection. Chapter two describes the characteristics of the 1994 development budget. Chapter three examines financing sources for a broad-based development budget including the district assemblies' common fund. Chapter four discusses the implementation of the budget, including contract award procedures for projects, and the system for procurement of capital goods. Chapter five reviews the 1994 development project and discusses the developmental impact of allocations, with chapter six examining the role of the infrastructural sector in the development process. Conclusions drawn from the review are outlined in chapter seven and matrix of actions is attached for guidance.

This report presents the findings of the Bank's review of the 1992 budget and the 1992-94 public investment program. Moreover, it analyzes the underlying processes by which these plans are prepared and implemented. The repot builds on the extensive dialogue on public expenditure management issues carried out between the government of Ghana and the Bank since the beginning of the economic recovery programme in 1983 (in the context of formal public expenditure reviews, policy framework papers, economic reports, adjustment credits, technical assistance and investment projects, etc.). In light of the substantial documentation of the results of this dialogue, particularly in the public expenditure reviews (PERs) published annually since 1985, this report does not present a comprehensive review of public finances in Ghana. Instead, it attempts to highlight certain areas of public expenditure management which are of priority concern, particularly with the approach of parliamentary democracy in 1993. The report is divided into three main sections. The first gives an account of the fiscal framework and the objectives of fiscal policy underpinning the budget and the public investment program. The second part addresses a number of generic budget implementation issues and illustrates them in two areas, namely: the budgetary burden of the public enterprise sector and the poverty focus of public expenditure. The third part consists of detailed sector reviews focusing both on sector expenditure programs and on the processes by which they are implemented.

Abstract

In supporting Ghana government's effort in streamlining public spending and improving related outcome in social sectors, the focus of this Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS) is to measure the leakage between different points of resource distribution. Ideally, a track of records should be available on the flow of government expenditures from the line ministries to district offices, from the district offices to the facilities, and finally on how resources are used by the facilities. However, in Ghana such records are not available. Based on the experiences of a tracking study conducted in Uganda in 1996 this tracking survey aimed to identify the bottlenecks in resource flows in Ghana, and to explore ways of ensuring that monies meant for service delivery reach their targeted points. This research is a pilot project.

The Ghana PETS was designed to track down to what extent public resources flow between three points, central government agencies, district offices and service delivery facilities. First, researchers obtained budget sheets from Ghana Education Services for education sector expenditure, which provided the actual expenditures by different level of service provisions and by budget items. Second, investigators conducted the tracking survey, which was based on a sample of basic education facilities, as well as the district offices in charge of the education sector.

This research focused on tracking non-salary expenditures due to both that some work has been previously done in tracking ghost teachers by the government of Ghana and that tracking salary spending would require a whole set of different survey instruments, which were beyond scope of this survey.

The fieldwork took place in May 2000. 119 primary and 79 junior secondary schools in 40 districts were surveyed.

Public Expenditure Tracking Survey studying expenditure flow in Ghana health sector was carried out at the same time with this research.

Geographic coverage

National

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The study was conducted using multistage sampling. First, four districts were chosen from each of ten regions in Ghana. Based on the natural resource endowment of the districts, and factors such as the level of infrastructure development, the income and welfare levels of the population, two depressed, one average and one better off districts were selected in each region.

The second stage involved the selection of service delivery facilities. From the district list of schools provided, five basic education schools (three primary schools and two junior secondary schools) per district were selected.

To facilitate the link with the Ghana Living Standards Survey Round 4 (GLSS 4), conducted in 1998, Enumeration Areas (EAs) falling within the selected districts were chosen first. Service facilities located in the selected EAs automatically became part of the sample. Facilities not located in the selected EAs but reportedly used by GLSS 4 households were added as well.

The GLSS 4 sample was selected from a sampling frame of 13,000 EAs developed from the 1984 Population Census. Each EA indicated its locality status (rural, semi-urban or urban), population and household information. The frame was first stratified by ecological zones (coastal, forest and Savannah). Within each zone the EAs were subsequently stratified by rural, semi-urban and urban. The GLSS 4 is based on a stratified nationally representative sample of households. At the first stage, 300 EAs were selected with a probability proportional to size (PPS). At the second stage, 20 households were selected from EA. The PETS was designed with the aim of matching data from this survey with the GLSS 4 dataset.

The PETS covered 143 EAs of the 300 GLSS 4 EAs.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Response rate

The total response rate from district offices was 98 percent. It was similarly high for schools - 99 percent.

In general, there were fewer problems in collecting data from the district offices. With regard to facilities, the non-financial data were quite accurate and consistent with the data from the ministry. However, there were more problems in collecting financial data. Some frequently cited reasons for this problem included the lack of systematic filing procedures, data filed in different places, etc. All data, including those in district offices, are recorded on paper (not in computers) and get discarded promptly. Heads of school facilities changed frequently. However, when a school principal left, s/he typically did not transfer information to the next head.

Ghana GH: Military Expenditure data was reported at 821.773 GHS mn in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 639.926 GHS mn for 2016. Ghana GH: Military Expenditure data is updated yearly, averaging 0.666 GHS mn from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 821.773 GHS mn in 2017 and a record low of 0.001 GHS mn in 1960. Ghana GH: Military Expenditure data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Ghana – Table GH.World Bank.WDI: Defense and Official Development Assistance. Military expenditures data from SIPRI are derived from the NATO definition, which includes all current and capital expenditures on the armed forces, including peacekeeping forces; defense ministries and other government agencies engaged in defense projects; paramilitary forces, if these are judged to be trained and equipped for military operations; and military space activities. Such expenditures include military and civil personnel, including retirement pensions of military personnel and social services for personnel; operation and maintenance; procurement; military research and development; and military aid (in the military expenditures of the donor country). Excluded are civil defense and current expenditures for previous military activities, such as for veterans' benefits, demobilization, conversion, and destruction of weapons. This definition cannot be applied for all countries, however, since that would require much more detailed information than is available about what is included in military budgets and off-budget military expenditure items. (For example, military budgets might or might not cover civil defense, reserves and auxiliary forces, police and paramilitary forces, dual-purpose forces such as military and civilian police, military grants in kind, pensions for military personnel, and social security contributions paid by one part of government to another.); ; Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Yearbook: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security.; ; Data for some countries are based on partial or uncertain data or rough estimates. For additional details please refer to the military expenditure database on the SIPRI website: https://sipri.org/databases/milex

Abstract

The Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) is the first nationally representative high-frequency household panel survey in Ghana. The AHIES is being conducted to obtain quarterly and annual data on household final consumption expenditure and a wide scope of demographic, economic and welfare variables including statistics on labour, food security, multi-dimensional poverty and health status for research, policy, and planning. Some of the key macroeconomic indicators to be generated include quarterly GDP, regional GDP, quarterly unemployment, underemployment, inequality, consumption expenditure poverty, multidimensional poverty and food security. The data from the AHIES is classified, tabulated and disseminated so that researchers, administrators, policy makers and development partners can use the information in formulating and implementing various development programs at the national and community levels and also to monitor targets under the Sustainable Development Goals.

Geographic coverage

Nation - Wide

Analysis unit

Individuals, Households

Universe

The universe covers the population living within individual households in Ghana. However, such population which is defined as institutionalised population as persons living at elderly houses, rest homes, correction facilities, military baracks, and hospitals with special characteristics, nursery,and also nomadic population are excluded.

Sampling procedure

With the sampling procedure, 10,800 households in 600 EAs, consisting of 304 (50.67%) urban and 296 (49.33%) rural households were drawn from the 2021 Population and Housing Census listing frame to form the secondary sampling units. A random sampling methodology was adopted to select eighteen (18) households per selected EAs in all regions to form the full sample for the fieldwork to be able to produce regionally representative expenditures for GDP.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [CAPI]

Ghana GH: Military Expenditure: % of GDP data was reported at 0.406 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.382 % for 2016. Ghana GH: Military Expenditure: % of GDP data is updated yearly, averaging 0.698 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2.656 % in 1968 and a record low of 0.341 % in 1983. Ghana GH: Military Expenditure: % of GDP data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Ghana – Table GH.World Bank.WDI: Defense and Official Development Assistance. Military expenditures data from SIPRI are derived from the NATO definition, which includes all current and capital expenditures on the armed forces, including peacekeeping forces; defense ministries and other government agencies engaged in defense projects; paramilitary forces, if these are judged to be trained and equipped for military operations; and military space activities. Such expenditures include military and civil personnel, including retirement pensions of military personnel and social services for personnel; operation and maintenance; procurement; military research and development; and military aid (in the military expenditures of the donor country). Excluded are civil defense and current expenditures for previous military activities, such as for veterans' benefits, demobilization, conversion, and destruction of weapons. This definition cannot be applied for all countries, however, since that would require much more detailed information than is available about what is included in military budgets and off-budget military expenditure items. (For example, military budgets might or might not cover civil defense, reserves and auxiliary forces, police and paramilitary forces, dual-purpose forces such as military and civilian police, military grants in kind, pensions for military personnel, and social security contributions paid by one part of government to another.); ; Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Yearbook: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security.; Weighted average; Data for some countries are based on partial or uncertain data or rough estimates.

Military Expenditure in Ghana decreased to 268.70 USD Million in 2024 from 285.40 USD Million in 2023. Ghana Military Expenditure - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on August of 2025.