By Kweku Armatey, in Cape Coast
Ghana’s crude oil production increased by 10.7% for the first half of 2024 as compared to a decline of 13.2 percent in the previous period, primarily due to the coming on stream of the Jubilee South East (JSE) Project, the country’s hydrocarbon management watchdog has reported.
“The total petroleum receipts for the period increased by 55.6%, from $540,456,124.27 (~$540Million) in H1 2023 to $840,765,265.80 (~$841Million) in H1 2024 mainly due to increased production for the period”, according to the semi-annual 2024 report by the Public Interest Accountability Committee (PIAC).
Despite this surge in petroleum receipts, the Government of Ghana did not allocate nor disburse, funding to the Industrialisation Priority Area during the period under review
The PIAC report urges the “Ministry of Finance to demonstrate the essence of prioritisation of the Industrialisation Priority Area by consistently committing disbursement of the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) to the Priority Area”,
The committee that Accra’s revenue allocation from petroleum receipts has been on consistent decline since 2020 when it selected the sector as a priority area.
In 2020, 1.15% of the total ABFA was allocated to industrialisation. The amount shrivelled to 0.87% in 2021, and dwindled to 0.20%) in 2022 before plunging to 0.11% in 2023.
And in the first half of 2024, from the total of $192Million disbursed for development in four priority areas, no amount was allocated to industrialisation.
For the period spanning 2023 to 2025, the Government of Ghana has selected agriculture including fisheries, infrastructure and service delivery in education and health, roads, rails, and other critical infrastructure, as well as industrialisation as priority areas to be funded with oil revenue.
