Oil cash: GNPC received US$98.29m in first half of 2019

The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) during the first half of 2019 received an amount of US$98.29 million from the petroleum revenue, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has announced in the Petroleum Holding Fund & Ghana Petroleum funds, Semi-Annual report: Jan 2 – Jun 28, 2019, which was published on the central bank’s website.

Similarly, the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) received US$165.66 million whiles the Ghana Stabilisation Fund (GSF) and the Ghana Heritage Fund (GHF) received an allocation of US$69.85 million and US$29.94 million respectively during the period under review.

The report said: “In H1 2019, a total amount of US$434.48 million comprising lifting proceeds of the Ghana Group, surface rentals, PHF income and corporation income tax was received into the PHF.

“Total petroleum revenue distributed was US$363.74 million. GNPC received US$98.29 million, ABFA received US$165.66 million whiles GSF and GHF received an allocation of US$69.85 million and US$29.94 million respectively during the period under review. GHF and GSF total return year to date (YTD) was 4.71% and 1.33% respectively.

“Realised income on the GPFs in H1 was US$11.20 million (GHF contributed US$6.72 million and GSF contributed US$4.48 million) as compared to H2 2018 total net realised income of US$9.26 million (GHF contributed US$5.31 million and GSF contributed US$3.95 million). GSF and GHF accumulated reserves were US$455.53 million and US$521.83 million respectively.

“Global economic growth is projected to decline from 3.6% in 2018 to 3.3% in 2019 before picking up slightly to 3.6% in 2020. Growth has moderated amid weak growth in the Eurozone, continued trade policy uncertainty, concerns about China’s greater-than-envisaged growth slowdown outlook at the weakest pace in at least 27 years, higher tariffs on Chinese imports, threats of tariff imposition on Mexican imports, and lingering “no-deal” withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.

“The balance of risks thus remains skewed to the downside, the major central banks have have adopted a dovish stance to monitor implications of incoming data and global economic developments. This dovish stance is favourable for global financial conditions with positive implications for emerging markets and frontier economies in the near-term as investors seek higher yields.

“The crystallization of these risks has in the near to medium term created a flight to quality with safe haven bond yields falling and is impacting positively on the marked-to-market valuations of the portfolios of the Ghana Petroleum Funds.”