A total of $2.8 billion had accrued into the Petroleum Holding Fund as of December 2014.
The Petroleum holding fund is the account in which all petroleum receipts are deposited before they are disbursed.
This is according to figures from the Finance
Ministry regarding crude oil receipts from 2010 to December 2014.
Out of this amount, government received $1.9 billion, with the rest going to the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and other partners with carried and participating interest.
This means petroleum revenue contributed 11.6% of government’s total domestic revenue in 2014, up from 9.9% in 2011.
Speaking at the Economy Ghana Network’s forum on the petroleum upstream sector, the Head of the Energy, Oil and Gas Unit at the Ministry of Finance , Dr Joseph Kwadwo Asenso downplayed claims that the petroleum funds are being misused.
He said: “I think that why we have not come out forcefully to tell Ghanaians what we are using the revenues for, like for example the completion of the Ofankor road and the Adenta road was made possible by petroleum funds.”
Dr Asenso also rejected claims by the Public Interest and Accountability Committee that the benchmark revenue forecasting formula is problematic thus leading to government engaging in over estimations.
According to him, “the formula is of international standards and that it is not possible for government to always get the estimations right!”
He also revealed that a total of $533 million has been transferred into the heritage and stabilization funds as of December 2014 and $100 million has also been transferred into the recently established sinking funds to service the nation’s debt.
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By: Raymond Acquah/citifmonline.com/Ghana