Government says it is losing revenue needed to execute its 2015 budget because of continuous decline in crude oil prices and other commodity prices.
The oil price used to prepare the 2015 budget dropped to $57 per barrel in July and forced government to revise the budget in July.
But since the 2015 Mid-Year Review and Supplementary Budget Estimates were presented to Parliament on Tuesday, July 21, 2015, revenue from crude oil has dropped even further.
Finance Minister Seth Terkper said at a news conference in Accra that Brent crude price had fallen to US$45.70 per barrel.
In effect, the Finance Minister says the failure to achieve revenue estimates is “negative implications for the Budget execution”.
But government says it will not pursue the option of increasing taxes domestically to make up for the shortfalls in revenue.
Instead, government will raise revenue by issuing Eurobonds on the international market, the Finance minister has said.
The Minister has assured Ghanaians that government is working to control public spending because of the fall in revenues.
On the brighter side, Seth Terkper said government has made “remarkable” achievements in meeting the Performance Criteria and Structural Benchmarks under the IMF programme.