Prof. Emerita Elizabeth Ardayfio-Schandorf
Royalties from the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF) dropped from $1,428,760,076.93 in 2022 to $1,062,323,419.12 in 2023 representing a 25.65% decrease from the previous year.
The report indicated that the decline in revenues could be attributed to the interplay of lower production volumes and relatively lower international crude oil prices.
PIAC chair, Prof. Emeritus Ardayfio-Schandorf mentioned that royalties from the Jubilee Field contributed 60 percent of the total royalties for the period, followed by SGN, 31% and TEN 9%”.
The 2023 Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) Annual report highlighted that the total amount of petroleum receipts disbursed to the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) for 2023 was $485,971,963.64, which is 7.66% lower than that of the same period in 2022, and 98.30% of the revised budgeted allocation of $494.32 million for 2023.
It added that the Ghana Stabilisation Fund (GSF) and the Ghana Heritage Fund (GHF) which make up the Ghana Petroleum Funds (GPFs) also received $330,579,098.26 representing 56.04% over the revised budgeted allocation for 2023.
“The total amount distributed from the Petroleum Holding Funds since its establishment in April 2011 to December 2023 stands at $9,837,797,346.45”.
The report further revealed that an amount of $24,298,598.18 (GH¢270,907,662.28), representing 5% of the 2023 ABFA was disbursed to the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) in compliance with the Petroleum Revenue Act.
The chairperson, however, mentioned that about 54% of the ABFA disbursed to the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) was used for goods and services, recurrent expenditure), contrary to Section 21(4)(a) of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, which provides that not more than 30% of the ABFA shall be used for goods and services.
She further stated that though PIAC played a crucial role in ensuring transparency and accountability in the management of petroleum revenue in Ghana, there were still some challenges.
That, she, mentioned includes the lack of enforcement mechanisms for the Committee’s recommendations, the absence of a long-term national development plan to guide the spending of the ABFA to make impact as expected while its works towards increasing the decline in oil produced in existing fields.
It further recommended that the selection of the ABFA for the priority areas must be guided by a long-term national development plan that is approved by Parliament in conformity with the Act.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah