Ghana earns $1 billion in petroleum revenue

The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), an independent monitoring body on petroleum revenue management, has said $1.833 billion had accrued from the sale of petroleum resources between 2011 and 2013.

It said $726.7 million was allocated to the Annual Budget Fund Amount for development projects across the country.

Mr. Yaw Owusu Addo, a member of the Committee, said this at a stakeholders’ forum in Takoradi to sensitize Ghanaians on the management of the country’s petroleum revenue.

He said $ 317.42 million had accrued to the stabilization fund with GHc8.93 million expended on training of human resources and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) received $661.2 million.

The event was organized by Friends of the Nation (FON), a non-governmental organization based in Takoradi, in partnership with PIAC and funded by OXFAM.

It was held on the theme: “Following the Oil Money: Informing Citizens for Better Petroleum Revenue Management.”

He said there was the need for a long-term national development plan which would serve as a development framework for the country.

The plan would be a working document that would be adopted by any political party to govern the country in order to have smooth and uniform development.

Mr Addo appealed to Ghanaians to be abreast with the laws regulating the petroleum revenue management in order to track its usage and ensure judicious utilization of petroleum resources.

He urged Ghanaians to monitor projects being implemented ed with petroleum revenue as well as holding government accountable on the use of the petroleum resources.

He said the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, Act 815 of 2011, was a viable tool Ghanaians needed to scrutinize government’s utilization of the petroleum revenue as well as assessing whether it had adhered to the tenets of the law.

Mr Kwame Jantuah, a member of PIAC, said a development plan must target specific priority projects and channel the chunk of the petroleum revenue toward their implementation.

This would enable Ghanaians to easily identify projects that had been implemented with petroleum revenue for the citizenry to appreciate the impact of petroleum revenue on their lives.

He said the Jubilee Partners had accumulated $ 250 billion dollars from the sale of Ghana’s petroleum resources between 2011 and 2013.

He appealed to the government to review the $ 250 million dollar cap placed on the heritage fund so that more funds could be allocated to it to safeguard the socio-economic security of the future generation.