Empower local companies to participate in natural resource sector — ACEP

Mr Benjamin Boakye, Executive Director, Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), says local companies need to be empowered to actively participate in the country’s natural resource sector.

That, he said, would boost local capacity and expertise and increase revenue to support the economy.

Speaking at a media interaction session ahead of the 2023 mid-year budget review, Mr Boakye said some companies worked for foreign firms for the exploitation of the country’s natural resources due to lack of capacity and support.

“We are producing fronts—so somebody shows up and says ‘I’m a Ghanaian’ but behind him is a foreigner who is doing the activity. And Bank of Ghana sees the transfers going into foreign accounts and nobody is acting,” he lamented.

Mr Boakye indicated that to generate enough revenue in the natural resource sector, there was the need to properly account for the cost of production and volume produced.

“The headline contractual fiscal terms are not what will generate enough returns. What generates enough returns is your diligence in ensuring that you are participating in the decisions across the value chain and be able to make more revenue,” he said.

Mr Boakye noted that since the country started exploiting oil, there had been opportunities to take quicker decisions to increase oil production, but the government had rather been slow in acting.

He said there was, therefore, the need to “integrate the exploitation of resources into our economy and have control over the cost and also estimating the volumes that come up”.

Mr Boakye projected that under the new International Monetary Fund programme, there would be a review of Ghana’s Gold-for-Oil policy.

He said there was the need to involve the public in such review to ensure transparency.

The Government announced the Gold for Oil Policy in November last year as an innovative measure to exchange gold for petroleum products instead of US Dollars.

The Government said the move was intended to reduce the demand for dollars for the importation of petroleum products to manage the depreciation of the Cedi.

It is estimated that the country required about $400 million to import petroleum products monthly – out of which the Bank of Ghana can supply only $120 million to petroleum importers.