Mr. Seth Terkper Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, on Tuesday said government is working assiduously to ensure that the enhanced revenues from the country’s natural resources are prudently managed and utilized for the benefit of the people. He said revenues from natural resources are to benefit people who are negatively impacted by the activities of extractive sector companies.

This was contained in a keynote address read by Mr Franklin Ashiadey, National Coordinator of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), at the dissemination workshop on the 2012/2013 audit reports of the initiative on mining and oil and gas sectors at Half Assini.

Members of the Ghana EITI National Steering Committee, Good Morning, it is my pleasure to welcome to the first meeting of the Steering Committee in 2015 and also to wish you a happy new year.

2.    This certainly is a good opportunity to set the tone for the months ahead and provide general guidance on how we want to chat the future of the Ghana EITI going forward, especially for 2015. Generally, these Steering Committee meetings are very important because it provides our partners from Civil Society and Companies the opportunity and the platform to bring their perspective to bear on the governance of the extractive sector and in shaping the future of Ghana EITI.

Mr Chairman,
Chief Directors,
Hon. Members of Parliament,
Members of the Steering Committee of GHEITI,
The Media
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour for me to be here for the launch of the 2012/2013 Ghana HEITI Reports for Mining and Oil and Gas Sectors. Following the extension of the EITI to the oil and gas sector in 2013, the Ministry of Petroleum has been following and participating the activities of GHEITI with keen interest for the purpose of ensuring transparency in the production crude oil in the country and utilisation of oil revenue.

The Finance Minister, Mr Seth Terkper, has expressed concern about the lack of capacity of the revenue collecting agencies to monitor tax players in the extractive industry appropriately. At the launch of the Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative reports (GHEITI) on the mining, oil and gas sector for 2012 and 2013 in Accra, Mr Terkper said, "Transfer pricing in the extractive sector is one major challenge that revenue institutions must overcome because of its negative effect on revenue collection."

GHANA earned $978.87 million equivalent to GH 03.0 billion from the export of oil from the jubilee field as of the end of 2014, Seth Terkper, Minister of Finance has disclosed. He said total volume of crude oil produced from the Jubilee field in 2014 was 37,201,691 barrels rep-resenting an increase of 42.6 per cent over 2011 production levels. In a speech read on his behalf at the launch of 2012/2013 Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) audit reports in Accra yesterday he said the average daily production rate in 2014 was 101,922 barrels per day.

Accra, February 10, 2015.

The National Multi-stakeholder Steering Committee of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) has today formally launched the country’s 2012 and 2013 mining, oil and gas EITI audit reports, released on December 27, 2014. The two reports bring to ten, the total number published since Ghana acceded to the initiative in 2003. The 2013 report is the third for the oil and gas sector.

The reports, which are published in conformity with the EITI standard adopted by the Sydney Global EITI Conference in 2013, goes beyond the mere reconciliation of payments and receipts, to include contextual information such as summary description of the legal framework and fiscal regime, the sector’s contribution to the economy, production data; state participation in the extractive industries; revenue allocations and the sustainability of revenues, license registers and license allocations; as well as information on beneficial ownership and contracts.

African governments have relegated the implementation of the African Mining Vision (AMV) to the back burner after it was unanimously adopted in 2009 by African Heads of State. The ECOWAS Mineral Development Policy (EMDP), a related document, has also suffered a similar fate. The AMV, according to experts, is the most ambitious national, sub regional and continental mining reform framework that has been developed in Africa in recent years.

A SENIOR Mineral Sector Governance Advisor in charge of the African Mineral Development Centre of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Dr. Kojo Busia, has called for strong policy reform in Africa's extractive sector.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

BACKGROUND

In 2003, Ghana signed onto the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). By this singular action Ghana joined the list of countries implementing EITI globally. As an EITI implementing country, Ghana is required to apply the principles of the initiative to its extractive sector(s).

It is a great pleasure for me to make this few opening remarks at this important workshop on the implementation of the Guidelines for the utilization of the Minerals Royalties that government sends back to districts and communities impacted by mining.