By Edzorna Francis Mensah
The Deputy Minister of Energy, William Owuraku Aidoo, has told Parliament on Thursday, June 29, 2023, that the total indebtedness of the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), namely, VRA, ECG, NEDCo, GRIDCo, TOR, BOST, Bui Power Authority, and GNPC, as of December 2021, per the validated debt matrix published by Deloitte in May 2023, is approximately US$2.4 billion.
According to him, “the creditors are main stakeholders (SOEs, IPPs, and fuel Suppliers) in the power supply value chain.”
The Deputy Minister said this when answering a parliamentary question filed by Edward Abambire Bawa, MP for Bongo, “to ask the Minister for Energy, the total indebtedness of the following Agencies, and the creditors are VRA, ECG, NEDCo, GRIDCo, TOR, BOS and T. Buj pawer Authority, and GNPC”.
In a related development, the Deputy Minister emphasised, “Ghana’s Gold-For-Oil Contract Agreements are between the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST) and the suppliers of petroleum products, and are Spot contracts, which involve the purchase or sale of the commodity for quick delivery at the current or prevailing market price termed as the spot price.”
He said this in response to a question asked by George Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, MP for Cape Coast South, on whether Ghana’s Gold-For-Oil Agreement is a forward contract between the Republic of Ghana and the supplier(s) of the oil, if not, what sort of agreement do we have in place?