Claim: Edudzi Tamakloe, National Democratic Congress (NDC) communicator, claimed that Ghana received $1.2 billion in oil revenue in 2022.
Verdict: Misleading. Ghana received $1.43 billion in Petroleum revenue in 2022, not $1.2 billion.
Full Text
Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s Minister of Finance, presented the 2023 mid-year budget review on July 31.
Political panel discussions before the presentation were centred on predictions and expectations of the review. Supporters of the current government communicators were hopeful that the mid-year budget review would reflect or amplify the measures put in place that have positively impacted economic recovery and growth.
On the other hand, opposition party supporters thought that the review was a waste of time since it would not be a true reflection of the hardships of the citizens.
Mr Edudzi Tamakloe, NDC communicator, in explaining how the current government has been wasteful in their expenditure, claimed that Ghana received $1.2 billion in oil revenues in 2022.
“I am sure they will say oh, free SHS! As we speak, the overall cost of free SHS is a little over GHC 11 billion. Even with GHC 11 billion, Ken Ofori-Atta had only released GHC 5.4 billion, so there are even arrears. Oil revenue alone last year gave us $1.2 billion. Just last year, oil alone,” he said.
He added that he believes the current government is the most resourced recently. However, the government has managed to squander the public purse and resorted to reckless borrowing, unprecedented debt restructuring, and Bank of Ghana financing.
Find the claim from 25:30 to 26:00 on Tv3 Ghana’s Facebook page on July 31, 2023.
DUBAWA decided to investigate this claim because of the predictions and expectations the mid-year budget review generated. Party communicators rode on the wave to misinform the audience.
Verification
The Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815) established the Petroleum Holding Fund as a public fund at the Bank of Ghana. The Petroleum Holding Fund receives and disburses petroleum revenue derived from upstream and midstream petroleum operations due to the country.
To investigate this claim, we perused Bank of Ghana data on petroleum revenue for the stated year, 2022. Data from the Ghana Petroleum Fund Report and Financial Statements, 2022 indicate $1,428,760,077 billion in petroleum revenue receipts. This was higher than the $783,325,850 and $666,390,751 received in 2021 and 2020, respectively.
Also, our research found that the Public Interest Accountability Committee indicated the same figures in the PIAC 2022 Annual Report.
The Public Interest Accountability Committee is the main independent body with the mandate to ensure transparency in the management of petroleum revenue in Ghana under the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815). The report indicated that the petroleum revenue of $1.43 billion received in 2022 is the highest for a single year since the inception of petroleum production in Ghana.
Find other publications that quoted similar figures here, here, and here.
In addition, we monitored the presentation of the 2023 mid-year budget review. Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, in his July 31st presentation in parliament, indicated the receipt of $1.43 billion in petroleum revenue. Find the presentation of petroleum revenue for 2022 from 1:25:49 to 1:26: 10 as posted on the Parliament of Ghana’s YouTube channel.
Conclusion
The claim that oil revenue received in 2022 was $1.2 billion is misleading. Ghana received $1.43 billion in petroleum revenue. That is the highest amount received in a year since the inception of petroleum production.
