The Minority side in Parliament has shot down proposals for government to use part of the Heritage Fund to finance the fight against the coronavirus disease in the country.
The Minority insists that it is not yet time for government to touch the Fund.
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta had earlier today, Monday, March 30, 2020, proposed the amendment of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act to allow the government to utilise portions of the Heritage Fund.
President Nana Akufo-Addo in his last address to the nation on the spread of Coronavirus in Ghana on Friday, March 27, 2020, said that he had instructed the Finance Minister to make available GH¢1 billion in a move to mitigate the impact of Coronavirus on businesses and households and to ensure that job losses were minimised.
But the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu argued that the government’s financial programmes must directly affect the ordinary Ghanaian.
“There is no difficulty in giving him (Finance Minister) approval to use the stabilisation fund but what we are saying is that the Heritage Fund was set out for a purpose and we are not there yet. So make use of the stabilisation reserve to support your activities and not the Heritage Fund,” Haruna Iddrisu insisted.
The Heritage Fund is a creation of section 10 of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act 815 enacted in 2011.
The purpose of the establishment of this fund is to provide an endowment to support the development of future generations when the petroleum reserves have been depleted according to Act 815 (2011) and amended Act 893 (2015).
The fund receives a percentage of oil revenue accrued to the Petroleum Holding Fund.
In view of this Parliament of Ghana pegged this figure at nine per cent. This means that out of the total oil revenue received into the Petroleum Holding Fund the Heritage Fund receives only nine per cent.
-citinewsroom
