Ghana should secure good oil deal

Accra, Aug 24, GNA - Professor Andy Mckay, Lecturer at the Economics Department of the University of Sussex in the UK, on Monday called on government to take steps to secure a good deal with the firms exploring the country's oil find for the benefit of the people. Prof. Mckay, who is also a development expert with the Overseas Development Institute in London, made the call at the first of a monthly collaborative lecture organised by the Institute of Social, Statistical and Economic Research of the University of Ghana and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Accra, to stimulate debate on the country's oil find and management of the resource, in respect to the alleviation of poverty and structural transformation.

He said government should put in place laws as well as effective monitoring of the revenue that would accrue from the exploration to ensure that the people benefited from it. Prof. Mckay said while the country moved into oil production, there was the likelihood that the authorities would neglect other productive sectors of the economy.

He said oil revenue should rather be used to transform the development of the agriculture, manufacturing and other sectors of the economy to ensure even development. Prof. Mckay cautioned against over-reliance on oil revenue, saying it made a lot of governments adamant to devise proper ways to tax their people, leading to erosion of other sources of revenue that were crucial for the development agenda.

He called for measures to prevent the inequality of the development syndrome to avoid the chaos that arise as a result.