The Minister of Finance, Mr Yaw Osafo- Maafo announced on Thursday that total receipts were projected at ?16,359.7 billion while total payments were projected at ?16,359.7

Total receipt comprises tax revenue of ?8,785.6 billion, non-tax revenue of ?449.1 billion, and foreign grants of ?1,982.2 billion, out of which ?471.0 billion is HIPC assistance in the form of programme grants.

Other receipts, projected at ?5,591.8 billion, include divestiture receipts of ?386.9 billion, programme loans of ?724.8 billion and project loans of ?1,999.4 billion, he said.

Mr Osafo-maafo said in order to limit the practice of government competing with the private sector in accessing funds from the financial institutions, net domestic financing of the budget would not exceed 139.0 billion (0.3 per cent of GDP) in 2002.

He said included in other receipts is an exceptional financing of ?2,223.8 billion which is part of the projected debt relief from the HIPC initiative. "Also included in the exceptional financing is a financing gap of 792.4 billion, for which we intend to seek additional concessional programme support.

"It is also projected that a total saving of about ?118.0 billion will be made in 2002 as a result of the restructuring of treasury bills to the Government of Ghana Inflation-indexed bonds."

The Minister said out of total payments of ?16,359.7 statutory payments were estimated at ?6,894.6, with discretionary payments programmed at ?9,465.1 billion. Under statutory payments, servicing of external debt is estimated at ?2888.1 billion, while domestic interest payments are projected at ?2,136.1 billion.

Amounts of ?367.9 billion and ?329.2 billion are programmed as transfers into the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) and the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETF), respectively. It is also estimated that an amount of ?460.0 billion will be transferred into the Road Fund.

Mr Osafo-Maafo said ?713.3 billion has been projected for transfers to households. This includes provisions of ?292.1 billion and ?70.0 billion for pensions and gratuities, respectively. Government social security contributions for its employees are projected at ?351.2 billion. With regard to discretionary payments, personal emoluments are projected at ?3,122.2 billion, while Administration and Services are programmed at ?1,115.0 billion.

Total investments are projected at ?3,583.8 billion, out of which ?3,287.2 will be financed from foreign sources. A total provision of ?624.8 billion has been made for the payment of road and non-road outstanding obligations. In addition, an amount of ?589.3 billion has been earmarked for poverty reduction activities under the HIPC initiative.

Mr Osafo-Maafo said a provision of ?353.6 billion has, for the first time, been explicitly provided as a transfer to households, earmarked for the operations of the utility companies, namely the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Ghana Water Company Ltd. (GWCL).

"This amount is a short-term measure meant to cushion consumers and smoothen the transition of the proposed increases in utility tariffs by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), into full cost recovery."