As part of tax compliance measures, the government is said to begin special audits within the extractive industry comprising of the Mining, and the Oil & Gas sectors.

The special audit comes after the government raked in some $1,908.22 million being the value of the oil export which was due to both price and volume effects in revenues for the first five months of 2018.

Presenting the Mid-Year budget review document to parliament, the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said, the government will commission audits of local and multinational enterprises in Mining, Oil and Gas, among others to address transfer mispricing and other forms of tax evasion.

“Mr Speaker, other tax compliance measures that will be vigorously pursued include Specialised Audits (Mining, Oil and Gas, Telecommunications Services, Transfer Pricing and High Net Worth Individuals)”

This is because over the years the government of Ghana has raised issues with the receipts and payment from the mining and Oil& Gas sectors in the area of fees, royalties, tax among others.

Even though these companies within the extractive sectors have insisted that they have paid the right taxes and payments due the government of Ghana and its allied agencies, the Finance Minister believes special audits of these firms will lay bare the truth or otherwise.

Mr Ofori-Atta also in the presentation also disclosed that the government raked in some $1,908.22 million as total petroleum receipts in the first five months of the year compared to the $1,033.35 million recorded in the same period 2017.

He said, “Mr Speaker, the value of crude oil exported in the review period was $1,908.22 million, compared to $1,033.35 million recorded in the same period 2017. The increase in the value of the oil export was due to both price and volume effects.  

The average realised price of oil continued to increase and settled at $70.38 per barrel, compared to $53.02 per barrel recorded for the same period in the previous year, partly due to geopolitical tensions.” 

He further stated that “volume exported also increased by 39.13 per cent to 27,114,807 barrels despite a planned Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) maintenance shut down in February and May, compared to 19,489,201 barrels in the same reporting period of 2017.”

Total petroleum receipts that are proceeds from liftings of crude oil and other sources as at September 2017 was $362.58 million (GHȻ1,552.13million) as $172.91 million (GHȻ671.49 million) for the same period in 2016.