ACEP presses for answers on GH₵2.05bn balance in petroleum pricing fund

Pinned summary · as of 16:03

The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) is calling for a full public accounting of a GH₵2.05bn gap between what the Uniform Petroleum Pricing Fund took in and what it paid out. The gap emerged from a performance audit by the Auditor-General. ACEP stopped short of alleging theft, saying the priority is to establish where the balance sits and on what authority it may be used.

What we know

• The Auditor-General's performance audit found a GH₵2.05bn difference between the Uniform Petroleum Pricing Fund (UPPF)'s receipts and its spending over the period reviewed.
• ACEP cited receipts of GH₵13.22bn against expenditure of GH₵11.17bn for the fund, and asked for greater transparency over how it is run.
• ACEP did not present the balance as proof that money was misappropriated. It wants the fund's position reconciled and the basis for holding or applying any surplus made clear.
• ACEP pointed out that the fund's margin climbed from 22 pesewas a litre in 2018 to 90 pesewas in 2024, a rise of more than 300%.
• ACEP estimates that regulatory margins built into fuel prices bring in about GH₵7.6bn a year, against roughly GH₵9.7bn collected through petroleum levies.
• Kodzo Yaotse, ACEP's policy lead, said the think-tank has made repeated attempts to obtain details of how the fund is administered. He also asked why costs such as government spending needs should be recovered through pump prices instead of the normal budget.
• Challenging the logic of uniform pricing, Mr Yaotse asked, “Why should my consumption subsidise their consumption?”
• ACEP also raised procurement and the beneficial ownership of firms doing work financed through the fund, while noting that these concerns do not on their own prove wrongdoing. It questioned whether the margin is regularly checked against real transport costs.
• The fund exists to even out the cost of moving petroleum products around the country, so that pump prices in distant regions do not run far above those near supply points.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

• ?
  NorvanReports reported that ACEP wants the National Petroleum Authority to reconcile the amounts collected, spent and left over, explain how the margin is set, and say whether it is reviewed against verified costs. ACEP also argued that Parliament should consider tighter reporting and appropriation rules; this is ACEP's own position and has not been echoed by other reports.
• ?
  According to NorvanReports, ACEP said the audit did not establish what became of the GH₵2.05bn and did not cover every issue the think-tank considers material. The authority's response to these points has not been reported.

Why it matters for Ghana

Fuel prices at the pump feed into trotro fares, the cost of transporting food to markets and the running costs of small businesses across Ghana. If a margin that consumers pay is growing faster than the transport costs it is meant to cover, motorists and traders in every region are affected. The questions ACEP has raised also concern how much Parliament can see of money collected through administered fuel prices.