AG charges GNPC to retrieve $279 million debt from Government, TOR, Finance Ministry, others
The Auditor-General, Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, has charged the management of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to recoup debts amounting to some $279,013,745 owed it by the central government, the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), the Ministry of Finance and Ghana National Gas Company.
Other government agencies indebted to GNPC, the Auditor-General further noted include the Energy Ministry and Volta River Authority (VRA).
The $279 million debt owed GNPC the Auditor-General notes in its report for the year 2020, is due to a lack of repayment plan by the central government and the aforementioned ministries and agencies.
GNPC was also partially blamed by the Auditor-General for not intensifying efforts to retrieve the monies from government and the mentioned ministries.
According to the Auditor-General, the inability of GNPC to collect the amounts due from Government or its agencies may affect the ability of the Corporation to carry out its objectives, as funds needed may not be available.
“We recommended to management to intensify their efforts in collecting these overdue balances,” noted the Auditor-General.
Meanwhile, an audit of the accounts of GNPC by the Auditor-General for the year ended 31 December 2018, revealed that the Corporation made a profit of $108,314,362 representing a 24.7% increase over the 2017 profit of $86,866,859.
GNPC’s total income increased by 77.6% from the 2017 amount of $286,703,729 to $509,175,857 in 2018.
The increase was largely due to 77.0% increase in revenue from $267,737,386 in 2017 to $478,956,031 in 2018. This was as a result of a 66.6% or $160,211,039 increase in the net share of crude oil revenue.
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The Corporation’s total expenditure for the review period also increased by $201,024,625 or 100.6% from $199,836,870 in 2017 to $400,861,495 in 2018.
The increment was largely due to 129.8% increase in cost of sales from $102,603,540 in 2017 to $235,804,089 in 2018.
Touching on the Corporation’s assets, the Auditor-General noted that GNPC’s non-current assets registered a decrease of 22.8% from $965,249,753 in 2017 to $745,278,749 in 2018.
The decrease was due to $187,411,533 reductions in the amount due from government agencies.
Current Assets on the other hand, increased marginally by 0.8% to $247,300,421 in 2018 from $245,387,638 in 2017. The increase was due to 21.3% or $36,112,875 increase in trade and other receivables.
Also, GNPC recorded 128.5% increase in current liabilities over the 2017 amount of $91,493,671 to $209,101,322 in 2018.
This was mainly due to $117,607,651 increase in trade and other payables. Non-Current Liabilities recorded 37.0% decrease over the 2017 amount of $484,509,159 to $305,063,948 in 2018.
This was mainly due to a $169,700,144 decrease in medium-term loans.
“The liquidity position measured in current ratio decreased from 2.7:1 in 2017 to 1.2:1 in 2018. The reduction to 1.2:1 indicates that the Corporation cannot meet its short-term obligations when they fall due,” concluded the Auditor-General.
