2018 budget riddled with 'too many data errors' – ACEP

The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has said its analysis of the 2018 budget which was presented to parliament by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta on 15 November, was error-riddled as far as data relating to the oil and gas sector were concerned.

“ACEP has observed too many errors and inconsistencies in the data presented in the Budget Statement and Appendices relating to the oil and gas sector.

“For example, in tables 11 and 12, Government reports petroleum receipts of $362,580,316.01 between January and September 2017.

“However, in Table 13, the Ministry reports the distribution of petroleum receipts to the tune of $389,579,619.97 in that same period.

“Though the $389,579,619.97 is consistent with other government data, it takes time and effort to establish which of the figures is accurate for rigorous analysis.

“The computation errors in Appendix 5 are even worse,” ACEP complained, recommending that: “We caution that government should be more diligent in data reporting to ensure accuracy and data credibility.”