Fourteen years after oil first trickled out of the Jubilee enterprise development, Ghana has little to show for the windfall.

Since 2011, the state has earned about $11.58 billion from crude production, however the transformation once promised has proved elusive.

The state’s percentage comes from royalties of 5% to 12.5%, ground rentals of $30 to $100 in keeping with sq. kilometre, a 15% minimum carried pastime, a 35% trade technology tax and a mix of negotiated bonuses and other entitlements with each and every operator.

These inflows peaked in 2022, when the government amassed $1.43 billion, on the other hand production has faltered since.

Output has fallen regularly since 2019, weakening state revenues year after year.

In the main a part of 2025, receipts dropped to $370 million. That’s not up to a part of the $840 million earned a year earlier. A sharply appreciating cedi eroded the dollar worth of the ones inflows even further.

In all, Ghana has pumped spherical 675 million barrels of crude since 2010.

The question this present day is not whether or not or now not the country has benefited from petroleum, on the other hand how far the money has carried it.

Through the Africa Extractives Media Fellowship (AEMF), led by way of Newswire Africa and the Australian High Commission, Isaac Dwamena, coordinator of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), the impartial body that displays the usage of Ghana’s petroleum revenues, outlined how the state has handled the cash so far.

Under the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, all petroleum technology flows first proper right into a central account, the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF), forward of being shared among key recipients.

The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation has received about $3.15 billion to technology operations and exploration.

Another $2.6 billion has been paid into the Ghana Stabilisation Fund to cushion fiscal shocks, while the Ghana Heritage Fund, reserved for long run generations, has received $1.1 billion and now holds more or less $1.3 billion.

The largest visible impact has come all through the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA), which has absorbed about $4.5 billion since 2011 and is helping the government’s annually worth vary, making it the channel through which most voters actually really feel the advantages of oil gain.

These ABFA resources have financed headline duties in conjunction with Kotoka Airport’s Terminal 3, the Kojokrom–Tarkwa railway, the Axim coastal protection works, the Tamne irrigation scheme, Free Senior High School and the Atuabo fuel processing plant.

The investments are visible enough, however many Ghanaians nevertheless ponder whether the wider promise of oil wealth has translated into frequently improvements.

Mr Dwamena argues that spending has lacked a clear guiding framework.

Ghana nevertheless has no long-term national commercial space business creation authorized by way of Parliament to steer the usage of petroleum revenues.

The absence of this sort of business creation, he says, has produced a patchwork of duties presented instantly, stretching resources thin and rising bottlenecks, delays and value overruns.

A brand spanking new shift is also taking shape in how petroleum worth vary are allocated.

Under the 2025 worth vary, the government has directed 95% of the ABFA into its Big Push programme to spice up up number one freeway direction nationwide. The closing 5% goes to the District Assemblies Common Fund.

It is a sharp pivot from previous years, concentrating just about all the ABFA on a single priority quite than spreading it all the way through numerous sectors.

Fourteen years after first oil, the great issues keep uneven.

Ghana’s experience contrasts with that of Norway, which channels oil technology into a large sovereign wealth fund, invests just about only in a foreign country and boundaries withdrawals to stay marketing for the longer term.

Ghana’s private rules for managing petroleum wealth were drafted more than a decade prior to now. They now require fresh scrutiny.

Public consultations, an expert input and legislative evaluation would possibly be in agreement adapt the framework to this present day’s monetary pressures and the upcoming energy transition.

Citizens have spotted how the rules they helped craft have worked in observe; they are going to need to now consider whether or not or now not the prevailing gadget delivers what they supposed.

For now, Ghana’s oil money has built airports, colleges and pipelines. What it has not however delivered is the economic transformation its discovery once promised.

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by way of Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or protection of Multimedia Group Limited.