Money for monthly payment of COVID-19 electricity reliefs ready – Nana Damoah

Head of Communication at the Ministry of Energy, Nana Damoah has said that the money for the payment of the electricity reliefs announced by government to cushion Ghanaians following the COVID-19 economic slowdown is ready and will be paid on a monthly basis.

President Nana Akufo-Addo in his sixth national address to the nation on the novel coronavirus on Thursday, April 9, 2020, said that government will fully cover the bills of low-income consumers of electricity and a 50 percent reduction in the cost of same for consumers in other categories in the country for April, May and June 2020.

According to John Peter Amewu, Minister for Energy, government will spend a little over GHS1 billion on the electricity relief package for all Ghanaians as announced by the President.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, the spokesperson for the Energy Ministry said the money has been made available by government to the Ministry of Finance.

“So government has said these amounts that have been brought before it are going to be paid on a monthly basis. The Ministry of Finance has given the highest assurances that the money has been found and is available to be paid at the end of every month to ensure the continuous operation of all of these.”

Nana Damoah also assured Ghanaians that the electricity reliefs announced by government to cushion Ghanaians from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will not affect the country’s energy sector debt.”

Stakeholders within the sector have claimed that the reliefs will likely impact the country’s already high energy sector debt.

But speaking on Eyewitness News, Nana Damoah insisted that the current arrangement will not affect the Energy Sector debt because government has funds ready to pay electricity suppliers monthly.

“This will not in any way affect the current position of the energy sector in terms of debt because government, led by the President, made a decision to provide some relief to the people of Ghana in this era of COVID-19. What this means is that this cost or this debt we are about to incur has been planned for by government and government will provide those amounts of money from outside the normal operations of the electricity company of Ghana. It, therefore, does not affect the revenue of the ECG in any way.”

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