The Public Interest and Accountability Committee says it is partially satisfied with the projects executed with petroleum funds since 2011.

It therefore wants government to do more to judiciously use petroleum funds to boost infrastructure across the country.

According to PIAC, the natural resources will finish some years to come, thus the country must make maximum and prudent use of the petroleum funds.

Chairman of PIAC, Professor Kwame Adom Frimpong told Joy Business there is no time left for the country to boost its infrastructure with the petroleum funds.

“The projects which have been shown to us and which we have inspected is quite okay, but we need to do more because when we got to know that we have the petroleum, we were all happy”.

He further noted that “we're expecting more. So the little we've done I won't say we're not doing bad, but at least the little resources or retail revenue that may come in, just to ensure that we utilise it and can pinpoint that this revenue we got from petroleum production; this is what it has been used for.

PIAC 2020 Annual Report recommendations

In its recommendations in the 2020 Annual Report, PIAC kicked against the use of the Annual Budgeting Funding Amount in filling expenditure gaps in times of revenue shortfall in the budget.

According to PIAC, the practice is rather the purpose of the Ghana Stabilization Fund.

It said “as detailed in the Committee’s 2019 Annual Report, the Committee reiterates that the ABFA should not be spread thinly, in accordance with Section 21 (1-3) of the PRMA.”

Other recommendations by the report are the need for the Ghana Revenue Authority as a matter of urgency, initiate action to recover Surface Rental Arrears with the appropriate interest, as provided for in the Petroleum Revenue Management Act as well as the Ministry of Finance ensuring that priority areas selected are approved by Parliament before implementation, as required by Section 21 (5) of the PRMA.