The Government of Ghana plans to amend the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA), 2011 (Act 815), to access portions of the Ghana Heritage Fund (GHF) and the Ghana Stabilisation Fund (GSF) — ostensibly to finance green investments and related initiatives — Business & Finance (B&F) has reported, citing sources close to the Ministry of Finance.
Ghana’s Minister for Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, is expected to make an official announcement when he presents the 2026 Budget Statement on the floor of Parliament today, Thursday, November 13, 2025.
According to B&F, this could be the main reason the Ministry of Finance (MoF) recently met with selected individuals and civil society organisations (CSOs).
However, the meeting did not formally include the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) — the independent watchdog established under the PRMA to monitor the collection and use of petroleum revenues.
It also excluded the Bank of Ghana (BoG), which manages the two funds, as well as other key statutory bodies responsible for oversight within the petroleum revenue management framework.
The GHF was created to preserve part of the country’s oil revenue for future generations, while the GSF serves as a buffer for the national budget against shortfalls caused by oil price volatility.
According to PIAC’s 2025 Semi-Annual Report, projected petroleum revenue for the 2025 financial year stands at US$1.01 billion.
Based on the allocation formula prescribed by the Act, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) is projected to receive US$192.67 million for both Levels A and B expenditures. The Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) is expected to receive US$573.08 million, representing 70 percent of the net benchmark revenue of US$818.69 million.
The remaining 30 percent — amounting to US$245.61 million — will go to the Ghana Petroleum Funds (GPFs), with the GSF receiving US$171.93 million and the GHF US$73.68 million.
From August 2011 to June 2025, cumulative petroleum receipts distributed total about US$11.47 billion.
Of this amount, GNPC has received US$3.16 billion (27.53 percent), while the ABFA has received US$4.55 billion (39.69 percent). The GSF and GHF have received US$2.64 billion (23 percent) and US$1.12 billion (9.78 percent), respectively.
If confirmed, the government’s move could reopen debate over the sanctity of the PRMA and the extent to which the country’s oil revenue savings can be repurposed to meet short-term policy priorities.
The Act was last amended in April 2025 to discontinue sustained and predictable funding for PIAC, while also allowing the ABFA to be channeled exclusively into infrastructure projects nationwide.
A broader review of the Act, initiated in 2018/2019 with extensive stakeholder consultations, stalled between 2020 and 2024.
Reacting to the development, the Executive Director of the Centre for Social Impact Studies (CeSIS), Robert Tanti Ali, described the plan as risky and ill-advised.
“GHF and GSF remain our brightest hope for the prudent management of petroleum resources. Their continued retention gives Ghanaians confidence in government’s ability to manage oil revenues,” he said.
Given this, he warned that touching these funds especially the GHF would amount to “robbing our unborn generation of their ability to benefit from our resources, and this is plainly wrong.”
“We have hailed the GHF as a model for ensuring intergenerational equity. If we had replicated this idea in the mining sector, we would not see the level of deprivation in mining communities. Why then is government tampering with it and taking us backwards?” he questioned.
Mr. Tanti Ali further expressed concern about the lack of transparency surrounding the proposed use of the funds.
“Who provides oversight? Who makes decisions on investment? These are issues that must be clarified before any amendment is passed,” he added.
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