This study reviews the potential for expanding Ghana’s fiscal space to support human development objectives along its four main ‘pillars’ of Domestic revenue, Official Development Aid (ODA), Borrowing, and Increased Efficiency and Reallocation, in light of Ghana’s recent socio-economic performance and the challenges ahead.

The key conclusion of the analysis is that the principal means for creating additional fiscal space to boost progress towards the MDGs by the 2015 benchmark will come from increased efficiency and reallocation of expenditures within the Ghanaian budget. Other key elements will include more effective revenue generation, improvements in efficiency of public sector operations, cuts in some of the least productive activities, re-balancing the economy in ways that boost the rate of economic growth and efficient use of the potential additional resources generated by oil revenues.