Finance Ministry introduces regulation to monitor petroleum revenue expenditure

• Posted on April 18, 2016
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Ministry of Finance is set to complete a Petroleum Revenue Management Regulation to address some controversies associated with the implementation of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act 2011(Act 815).

The move is also to ensure value for money as it will regulate manipulation of oil revenues by various governments. Players in the petroleum sector also believe the move is timely following some challenges the country had to face regarding spending from the Stabilization fund and the Annual Budget Funding Amount. The Campaign Coordinator of the Integrated Social Development Centre and a member of one of the committees developing this regulation, Dr. Steve Manteaw also tells Citi Business News the regulation is likely to be passed by the middle of the year.

“The essence of the regulation is borne out of a few of the challenges that we have had. We have found ourselves in a situation where the estimation of the benchmark revenue varies in terms of approaches over a three year period. The law allows you to estimate your benchmark revenue and of you do not achieve it, it allows you to take money from the stabilization fund to balance your budget. We had a situation where government could not meet its revenue target so it had the right to go and take money from the stabilization to balance the budget.” Dr. Manteaw said. He added, “The regulation will help clarify these things and tighten the knots such that the estimation of the benchmark revenue is not manipulated by the political authority.”

Petroleum Revenue Management Act

The Petroleum Revenue Management Act (Act 2011) provides the framework for the collection, allocation and management of petroleum revenue in a responsible, transparent, accountable and sustainable manner for the benefit of Ghanaians in accordance with Article 36 of the Constitution and for related matters. The ACT was however amended in 2015 to provide for the allocation of funds to the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) to facilitate infrastructure development, the provision of the Investment Advisory Committee and other related matters.

– citifmonline