By Stanley Senya
Accra, July 24, GNA – The Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) has launched its 2021 – 2022 reconciliation reports for mining, oil and gas to sensitise the public, create interest for investors and debate issues concerning the mining industry.
The report is hinged on the principles of transparency, accountability, and participation of citizens in decisions around resource governance, and spending options.
The report said the mining sector’s contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined from GHC 11.449 billion in 2020 to GHC10.105 billion in 2021, representing a decrease of 11.7 per cent.
It, however, increased to GHC13.025 billion in 2022, representing 28.9 per cent jump.
In 2021, the country’s gold production shrunk by 91.7 per cent, mainly due to the introduction of a 3 perc ent withholding tax on small-scale production of unprocessed precious minerals.
However, relative to the other sectors, the mining sector was the fifth largest economic activity by value in 2021 and the third in 2022, indicating that, mineral export proceeds in 2021 and 2022 represented 36 per cent and 39 per cent of total merchandise exports respectively, which were more than the contributions of the other major foreign exchange earners, such as cocoa, and crude oil.
The report said the upstream oil and gas sector in Ghana contributed 4.89 per cent to the GDP of Ghana, 6.91 per cent of total government revenue, and 7.03 per cent of domestic revenues in 2021.
It said a total of 11,615,029 bbls of crude oil was exported by GNPC in respect of CAPI and royalties for an amount of US$496,286, 197.87, while other partners exported 55,843,177 barrels of crude in 2022.
Thus, the total crude oil exports for 2022 as reported by the Bank of Ghana was 67,458,206 barrels valued at US$2,910.6 million. This translates into 31.19 per cent of total merchandise exports in 2022.
The report said in 2021, the total value of crude oil export was US$3.947.73 billion which accounted for 26.81 per cent of gross merchandise exports.
Mr Ben Aryee, Special Technical Advisor to the Minister, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources (MLNR), who read a speech on behalf of the Minister of Finance, said the mining, oil and gas sectors played a vital role in the Ghanaian economy.
He said the increase and decrease of GDP in the min̈ing sector called for prudent public financial management measures to ensure that such developments did not distort government’s public expenditure projections.
He said there had been a conscious effort by government to create avenues for more transparent and judicious management of revenues from these sectors to safeguard them and to ensure that they return lasting benefits to the economy.
He said as part of efforts to stem illicit financial flows from the countries extractive sector, Ghana had focused a great deal of attention on counter measures, including the establishment of a Beneficial Ownership (BO) disclosure regime.
Mr Aryee said in 2016, government amended the then Companies Act, 1963 (Act 179) to include BO provisions, which led to the enactment of Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992) to address the BO gaps in Act 179.
Furthermore, the government has provided logistical support to the Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC) for the establishment and operationalization of the BO register.
These measures have helped to improve Customer Due Diligence (CDD) in the award of licenses and has reduced the incentive for corruption in the extractive industry.
“I am glad to inform you that, gas production experienced a marginal increase in 2021 since the commercialisation of natural gas in Ghana”, he said.
He pledged government’s commitment in providing the necessary technical and financial assistance to the MSG in sustaining the implementation of EITI activities in Ghana.
GNA