PIAC seeks details of petroleum funds allocated to Big Push projects

The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) released its 2026 semi-annual report on Ghana’s petroleum revenue management, noting that additional information on how the government uses petroleum revenues allocated to the national budget would strengthen its assessment of government expenditure.

Mr Richard Ellimah, Chairman of PIAC, said the Committee had yet to receive information from the Ministry of Finance on the utilisation of the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA), which limited its ability to fully assess expenditure under the programme.

He made this known at the launch of PIAC’s 2026 semi-annual report in Accra, explaining that the Committee had requested the data from the Ministry but was still awaiting a response.

Mr Ellimah said the information was particularly important for monitoring expenditure on infrastructure projects, including the government’s Big Push Agenda, which includes the construction of the Accra-Kumasi Expressway.

He said the concentration of a significant proportion of the ABFA in the Big Push programme could also influence how PIAC conducted its project inspections.

“We are hoping very much that the Ministry of Finance will give us the data so we can understand what is going on,” he said.

“It is something new for us because it is going to change the way we also do our project inspections.”

Mr Ellimah also called for greater attention to compliance with the legal provisions governing the provision of information to PIAC.

He said in the Committee’s 15 years of operation, he was not aware of any prosecution for failure to comply with the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA).

PIAC intended to engage the Attorney-General for guidance on addressing recurring compliance concerns, he said, noting that the Committee could not independently initiate legal action to enforce its recommendations or compliance with the Act.

“These are clearly legal infractions,” he said, adding that the Attorney-General’s advice would help determine the appropriate course of action.

PIAC was established under Section 51 of the PRMA to promote transparency and accountability in the management and use of petroleum revenues.

Its mandate includes monitoring compliance with the Act and providing independent information to the public to support informed debate and Parliament’s oversight responsibilities.

Mr Isaac Dwamena, PIAC’s Executive Secretary, said the Petroleum Revenue Management Regulations specified the timeframe within which institutions were expected to respond to the Committee’s requests for information.

Regulation 25 requires institutions requested to provide information for PIAC’s annual and semi-annual reports to do so within 15 days of receiving the request.

Despite the outstanding information, the report assessed developments in petroleum revenue collection, production, expenditure and the management of the country’s petroleum funds during the first half of 2026.

It said petroleum revenue receipts increased to US$561.4 million in the first half of 2026, from US$370.3 million in the corresponding period of 2025.

The increase was attributed largely to higher crude oil prices and a rise in corporate income tax receipts.

The average achieved crude oil price was US$92.80 per barrel, above the benchmark price of US$76 per barrel.

PIAC, however, cautioned that the increase in revenue was driven substantially by higher prices rather than a corresponding rise in production.

It highlighted the vulnerability of petroleum receipts to fluctuations in the international oil market.