The Petroleum Revenue Management Act (Act 815) is currently undergoing a review.
The review of the PRMA Act by the Finance Ministry, Bank of Ghana (BoG), the Public Interest and Accounts Committee (PIAC) and some Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), follows a recommendation by PIAC to remove the ministerial discretion – Finance Ministry – in the allocation of excess revenue over the Stabilisation Fund cap.
Currently, the Finance Minister has the power to determine how much of the excess funds go into the Contingency and Sinking Funds. The removal of the discretion, PIAC said, would ensure that there was enough money in the Contingency Fund to address national emergencies.
Failure of the Finance Ministry to provide data on the utilisation of its Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) for the fourth consecutive time, is another reason for PIAC’s recommendation for an amendment of the Act.
“This is because the ministry’s persistent failure (fourth time) to provide half-year data on ABFA utilisation is not only adversely affecting the work of the committee, but [is] also eroding gains in the fight for transparency and accountability in the management and use of Ghana’s petroleum revenues for the benefit of citizens,” lamented PIAC in its 2020 semi-annual report.
Disclosing the ongoing review in an interview, Gideon Ofosu-Peasah, a sustainable energy extractive and climate specialist said the review is to help make the PRMA Act more robust and sensitive to changes in the petroleum industry.
The PRMA Act allocates all oil and gas revenues to the Budget (ABFA), Stabilization, and Heritage Funds after the approval of GNPC’s share by Parliament.
