2015 Budget Highlights: Gov't to issue energy bonds

Government is to issue energy bonds to raise the required capital to bridge the deficit in power generation facing the country, Finance Minister, Seth Terkper has said.

The Finance Minister in the 2015 Budget statement presented to Parliament on Wednesday, said: "We will continue to enhance the use of oil and gas resources to leverage the Capital Markets for development of the energy sector. This last initiative will involve the issuing of energy bonds through plans that draw on synergies among the Balance Sheets of capable State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and the private sector,"

With a 12 percent growth in electricity demand, it is estimated that a sustained annual investment of about US$200million is required to bring on-stream an additional 200megawatts of power annually, but the Volta River Authority (VRA), the largest power producer, is unable to keep up with that investment.