Ghana’s energy sector received a whopping ¢20.8 billion in support from the central government in 2024, according to Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson.
He revealed this while presenting the 2025 Budget and Economic Policy in Parliament on Tuesday, March 11,2025.
Minister Ato Baah Forson said, this significant allocation could have been channeled towards other vital sectors, such as building hospitals, roads, and other infrastructure, had the energy sector been managed more efficiently.
“These resources could have been used for job creation and other development programmes like roads, schools, and hospitals if the sector inefficiencies were resolved,” he said.
The energy sector’s debt woes continue to worsen, with Independent Power Generators Ghana owed a staggering $1.73 billion as of December 2024.
To tackle this debt, the Mahama administration plans to introduce private sector participation in the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to boost revenue collection.
The Finance Minister minister noted that a recent exercise conducted by the energy sector financing modelling team under the Energy Sector Recovery Programme (ESRP) revealed that the Business as Usual (BAU) energy sector financing shortfall has increased significantly to about GH¢35 billion for 2025, even after the rather large spending for the sector’s shortfall in 2024.
“Mr. Speaker, more importantly, the shortfall for the period 2023-2026 has been estimated at about GH¢140 billion,” he stated.
“This is over 20 times more than the allocation for Goods and Services for all MDAs for 2025.”
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
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