The Government has announced an ambitious plan to mobilise GH¢268.1 billion in total revenue and grants for the 2026 fiscal year, representing an 18.3 percent increase over the projected GH¢226.7 billion for 2025.
Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, presenting the 2026 Budget Statement and Economic Policy to Parliament, said the target forms part of government’s strategy to consolidate macroeconomic stability, sustain growth, and transform Ghana’s fiscal landscape through disciplined management and enhanced domestic resource mobilisation.
According to Dr. Forson, non-oil tax revenue remains the backbone of the Ghanaian economy and is expected to contribute GH¢216.1 billion in 2026 driven by improved compliance, technology-driven enforcement, and tax system reforms.
“We are deepening domestic resource mobilisation and widening the tax base, not by overburdening citizens, but by ensuring fairness and efficiency in collection,” he said.
Oil and gas receipts are projected at GH¢13.6 billion, reflecting steady global market prices, while non-tax revenue is estimated at GH¢20.9 billion.
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About GH¢18.2 billion of this will be retained by Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to sustain essential services. Additional inflows from SSNIT transfers and energy sector levies are expected to contribute GH¢14.4 billion, with development partner grants adding GH¢3.1 billion.
The Minister noted that the revenue target aligns with Ghana’s medium-term macroeconomic framework aimed at maintaining a primary surplus of 1.5 percent of GDP, reducing fiscal deficits, and ensuring debt sustainability.
To support this goal, government will roll out sweeping tax reforms, including the modernisation of the Value Added Tax (VAT) system, the abolition of the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy, and the integration of GETFund and NHIL levies into the VAT base to enhance input-output deductions.
“These measures will simplify tax administration, lower the cost of compliance, and return about GH¢6 billion to households and businesses, spurring private sector growth,” Dr. Forson explained.
The 2026 fiscal strategy also focuses on closing revenue leakages at the ports through AI-driven pre-arrival inspection systems and digital integration between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Customs.
These reforms, he said, will help reduce misclassification, under-invoicing, and illicit capital flight, all of which have cost the nation billions in the past.
Dr. Forson reaffirmed government’s commitment to transparency and accountability, noting that “fiscal discipline is not an end in itself but a bridge between stability and progress.”
He added that social protection and human capital development will remain priorities, with allocations to education, health, and social programmes safeguarded even as Ghana pursues fiscal consolidation.
Economists have described the Ghana revenue target 2026 as ambitious but achievable if the administration maintains fiscal discipline and enforces compliance without overtaxing the productive sectors of the economy.
The 2026 Budget, themed “Resetting for Growth, Jobs, and Economic Transformation,” aims to sustain economic gains made in 2025, when inflation fell to single digits and the cedi appreciated by 35 percent against the dollar.
