The Ministry of Finance has repudiated claims by the Public Interest Accountability Committee (PIAC) that the ministry could not account for GH¢403.7 million of Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA).
The Ghanaian Times on Monday, reported the PIAC Vice Chairman, Dr Thomas Stevens, as saying that out of an allocation of GH¢736.03 million to support the ABFA, only GH¢332.29 million was spent, leaving an unspent amount of GH¢403.7 million.
But the ministry in a statement signed by its Chief Director, said, the ABFA received in 2017 was GH¢733.2 million out of which “GH¢329.5 million was used to pay for projects.”
According to the ministry, “an amount of GH¢403.7 million was transferred into the treasury main account in 2017. This transfer is in line with the provisions of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) in Section 46 of the Public Financial Management Act (PFMA), 2016, (Act 921) that requires that all government balances should be part of TSA.”
The rationale, the ministry said, was to avoid government cash balances sitting in various accounts while government borrows at expensive rates to finance important government expenditures.
It said the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA), 2015 (Act 893), had clear provisions and arrangements for expending the ABFA.
The statement said “government is committed, in light of the PRMA; to apply these funds to expenditures permitted under the law and can confirm that the ABFA funds have not been wrongly applied.”
Expressing its gratitude to the PIAC for their vigilance, the ministry urged the committee to partner government in ensuring that scarce petroleum revenues were applied in the best interest of the economy.
BY TIMES REPORTER
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