Ghana has again achieved a landmark success by passing its Petroleum Revenue Management Bill in spite of the delay and highly partisan debate on the bill.
p>Ghana has again achieved a landmark success by passing its Petroleum Revenue Management Bill in spite of the delay and highly partisan debate on the bill.
What is unique about the passage of the bill is its coincidence with the opening of the 5th Global Conference of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in Paris, where global leaders, the private sector and civil society unanimously called for greater transparency in the management of natural resources wealth of countries. Another significance of the bill is the consensus by both the majority and the minority members of parliament on all the transparency provisions.
The bill which received significant contributions from civil society particularly from the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas, re-iterated the country’s extension of the EITI to the new oil and gas sector, and further demonstrates the commitment of the people to make Ghana a model of sustained democracy founded on transparency and accountability.
The Petroleum Holding Fund
The bill outlines clear rules for petroleum revenue inflows and outflows. It provides for the establishment of a Petroleum Holding Fund to which all petroleum receipts will be deposited, a Stabilization Fund to account for the effects of revenue volatility through expenditure smoothing; and a Heritage Fund to ensure intergenerational equity and create an alternative source of income for the future. Disbursements of the Holding fund are further provided in the bill as:
- 70 per cent of benchmark annual revenues to the budget
- 21 per cent to the Ghana Stabilization Fund and
- 9 per cent to the Ghana Heritage Fund