GNPC needs US$21 million to clear debt owed since 2014 - Joseph Dadzie

An amount of US$21 million is needed to clear debts owed by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) since 2014.

This was disclosed in a hearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament with the company indicating governments incapability to pay the debt over the years.

Speaking before the Committee on Tuesday, September 1, 2020 the Deputy Chief Director of the GNPC, Joseph Dadzie, described the situation as having a negative effect on the company’s revenue.

“These amounts have been outstanding since 2014/2015 so I think it will be very helpful if we get assistance for the payment of these amounts. There are other payments that they [government] are making on behalf of GNPC and some other entities as far as gas consumed in this nation is concerned,” he stated.

The deputy chief director, however, told the Committee his outfit will be negotiating with the government to ease its debt burden.

“We may have to sit around the table with the other entities and have some reconciliation to see whether we can cross out some of these amounts,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Auditor Generals Department, in its 2017 report on public boards indicted the management of GNPC for failing to recover an amount of Gh¢778,565,761 from government and other state-owned enterprises.

The amounts owed by the government of Ghana, Finance Ministry, Tema Oil Refinery, Ghana Gas have been outstanding since 2015.