Oil proceeds from Ghana’s oil fields in the western part of the country for the period January-September 2019 amounted to $668.5m, energynewsafrica.com can report.
The figure is, however, lower than what the West African country raked in as revenue compared to the same period in 2018, representing a shortfall of about $55.1m.
Presenting the 2020 budget statement in Parliament, Ghana’s Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta blamed the revenue shortfall on the fall in crude oil prices on the international market.
“Speaker, actual receipts of $668.41m for the period up to September 2019 is lower than the realised receipts of $723.55m for the same period in 2018, due mainly lower than programmed crude price released for the period ($63.72 per barrel compared to $70.34 per barrel in 2028),” he read.
The Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA) requires that not more than 70 percent of the government’s net petroleum receipts is designated as Annual Budget Funding Allocation (ABFA) and not less than 30 percent designated as GPFs.
“Out of the amount transferred into the GPFs, the GHF received not less than 30 percent, with the rest transferred into the GSF.
“Mr. Speaker, the 2019 petroleum receipts were distributed based on the provisions of the PRMA (as amended). Out of the total revenue of US$668.41 million, the national oil company, GNPC, was allocated a total of US$148.19million, made up of Equity Financing Cost (US$95.66 million) and its share of the net Carried and Participating Interest (US$52.54 million),” Mr Ofori-Atta said.
The Finance Minister also gave details of how the oil proceeds were spent:
Agriculture- 70,273,236.75; Physical Infrastructure and Service Delivery in Education 570,865,917.58; Physical Infrastructure and Service Delivery in Health- 43,646,794.46; Road, Rail and Other Critical Infrastructure Development- 300,258,670.79 Sub-Total- 985,044,619.58 Public Interest and Accountability Committee- 2,900,000.00 Grand Total- 987,944,619.58; Public Debt Developments For 2019.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com