Finance Ministry hasn’t transferred 5% of ABFA to DACF for 2 consecutive years

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta

The 2022 annual report of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), a committee set up by an Act of Parliament to monitor petroleum funds utilisation, has revealed that for two consecutive years, 2021 – 1.74% and 2022 – 2.39%, the Ministry of Finance was not been able to meet the requirement to transfer five percent of the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) to the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF).

For the Industrialisation Priority Area, the report said, it received an amount of GH¢9.29 million representing 0.20 percent of the total ABFA (GH¢4.41 billion).

The disbursement which represents 4.29 percent of the amount budgeted (GH¢216.3 million) for the priority area for 2022 does not reflect giving priority to Industrialisation in the use of ABFA, it said.

The report established that an amount of GH¢643.61 million (US$73.68 million) was transferred to Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) in 2022. According to the Fund, the entire disbursement was used to support the Agenda 111 Project of the Government.

This is the second year after 2021 that Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fun GIIF has received funds for the Agenda 111 Project. In 2021 an amount of GH₵290.38 million (US$49.39 million) was allocated to the Fund, it said.

The retention of the current cap of US$100 million on the GSF for the year 2022 is not in accordance with the formula stipulated in L.I 2381.

“A proper application of the formula would have returned a cap of US$638.87 million.

“The current cap does not help build the Fund to serve its purpose,” the report indicated.

In 2022, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) received an amount of US$38,835,537.56 as gas commodity revenue from the Cash Waterfall Mechanism (CWM) which constitutes petroleum revenue. This amount
was not paid into the Petroleum Holding Funds (PHF).

GNPC is using JOHL to carry out operations not approved in GNPC’s Workplan for 2022. Two notable examples are Explorco cash calls on Springfield, ENI Block 4 etc. – US$5,546,419.12 and SOPCL Decommissioning – US$11,000,000.00.

Total lifting proceeds received by JOHL (a subsidiary of GNPC) for 2022 amounted to
US$272,652,208.95. Despite calls by PIAC that revenues of JOHL constitute petroleum revenue and should be paid into the PHF, GNPC disagrees and continues to use lifting proceeds of JOHL for other expenditures.

Although the Ghana National Gas Company (GNGC) generates some revenue from the sale of processed gas, it has been unable to settle its indebtedness to GNPC for raw gas supplied because of the zeroed policy introduced by government to subsidise its portion of the CAPI of the gas.