African economies reel under petroleum slump – ACEP

Many Oil producing countries in the African sub-region have been the worse hit by the plummeting oil revenues following the high risk of their less diversified economies, over dependence on oil revenues, lower tax effort, fiscal indiscipline and corruption among others, the Executive Director for energy think-tank, Africa Centre for Energy Policy(ACEP), Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has said.

In view of the oil price slump on the global market, Dr. Amin said docile oil producing states like Ghana are compelled to relax high governance standards as a way to attracting investments from investors that are opposed to open governance rules.

He adds: “There are many others who are still faced with policy dilemmas while their economies are suffocating from the oil squeeze”

Dr. Amin Adam made the observation while delivering a keynote address at the 2nd Africa Oil Governance Summit held in the capital-Accra.

He thus charged government to be proactive in good governance and also spend oil revenues responsibly to enable it to ease the negative impact of a downturn in commodity prices on the economy as it is currently.

The two-day summit was themed; “Rising through the rubbles of oil price shock. Is good governance the solution to the plight of African oil producers?”

Also at the summit was the launch of the “Africa Oil Governance Report” for the year 2015 to highlight governance issues such as transparency, accountability, corruption, policy and regulatory issues in the oil and gas industry in Africa.

The Report identified the key governance challenges that confront African oil and gas producers and how such challenges can be addressed through policy, legal and institutional interventions.