Government spending in quarter one 2026 dropped by 21%; capital expenditure still below target

Government spending in quarter one 2026 dropped by 21%; capital expenditure still below target

The Capital Expenditure for the period under review was GH¢7.345 billion (0.5% of Gross Domestic Product). This was lower than the programmed target of GH¢12.645 billion (0.8% of GDP) by 41.9%.

Charles Nixon
Jul 7
Government spending in quarter one 2026 dropped by 21%; capital expenditure still below target

The government’s total expenditures and net lending for the review period totalled GH¢62.089 billion. According to the May 2026 Monetary Policy Report, this was below the target of GH¢78.831 billion by 21.2%.

Compensation of Employees was GH¢21.144 billion, lower than the target of GH¢22.689 billion.

This outturn was 6.8% below its target but recorded some18.1% year-on-year growth.

In terms of fiscal flexibility, compensation of employees constituted 34.1% of domestic revenue mobilised during the period under review.

The use of Goods and Services totalled GH¢1.276 billion, lower than the expected target of GH¢1.974 billion by 35.3%.

According to the Bank of Ghana, this points to some restraint on the part of the government to control discretionary spending.

This expense was, however, higher by 153.5% compared to the same period in 2025.

Grants to other government units amounted to GH¢12.334 billion, compared to the target of GH¢15.243 billion, resulting in a negative deviation of 19.1%.

It nonetheless recorded a year-on-year growth of 5.5%.

The Capital Expenditure for the period under review was GH¢7.345 billion (0.5% of Gross Domestic Product). This was lower than the programmed target of GH¢12.645 billion (0.8% of GDP) by 41.9%.

The outturn represented a year-on-year increase of 61.3%.

Other Expenditure was GH¢2.745 billion, which is 32.4% below the target of GH¢4,059.1 million but higher than the corresponding period of 2025 by 12.3%.

The total interest payments of GH¢17.243 billion was below the target of GH¢21.675 billion for the review period and 6.6% short of its value in the corresponding period of 2025.

Comments

Join the conversation.

Log in to join the conversation.

No comments yet. Be the first to start the discussion.

Trending Now