An amount of GH 9,352,861 million of the Annual Budget Fund Amount (ABFA) was disbursed by the agriculture sector as a selected priority area for spending of oil revenues in 2021, the Annual Report of the Management and Use of Petroleum Revenues for 2021 has revealed.
It was, however, 88.16 percent lower than that of 2020 figure of GH¢79 million.
The amount, representing 0.50 percent of the ABFA was spent entirely on public investment expenditure and the distribution to the agriculture priority area for 2021.
In 2019, ABFA to the agric sector was Gh¢71.6 million. The ABFA is the annual allocation to the national budget from petroleum revenues for current spending.
According to the report launched in Accra on April 13, 2022, by the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), about 85 percent of the disbursement to the priority area was made to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) to support one of the government’s flagship programmes, Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ).
“The funds were used for the construction of units of 1000 metric tonnes (mt) warehouses, small irrigation dams and ancillary facilities. The rest of the funds were disbursed to the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture for the construction of the National Aquaculture Centre and Commercial Farm in Dahwenya, as well as access and internal roads at the Anomabo Fisheries College,” it said.
Priority Areas
The Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA) 2011 (Act 815) provides that the ABFA shall not be more than 70 percent of the benchmark revenue, which is estimated revenue expected from petroleum operations by the government for a financial year, net of the amount ceded to the national oil company.
The PRMA also requires allocation to the ABFA to be guided by a medium-term development strategy aligned with a long-term national development plan. However, in the absence of the plan, the government selects priority areas on which to focus its spending of petroleum revenues. The 12 priority areas for selection are agric, industry.
Source: Graphic Business