The Ranking Member of Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, John Jinapor, has refuted claims by the government that the Russia-Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic are the cause of the challenges in Ghana.
According to him, data from the Ministry of Finance shows that these two events have been a blessing to the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government.
John Jinapor, who made these remarks in an XYY interview monitored by GhanaWeb, explained that because of the Russia-Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic, the government had exceeded most of its revenue projections.
“If you look at the summary of the financial data of the country from January to June this year, which was published by the Ministry of Finance, you will notice that the government has benefited from these two things, particularly because of the rise in the prices of petroleum prices.
“The Summary of Central Government Operation, which was published by the ministry, shows that the country at the end of the 2nd quarter collected 127 percent of its projected tax revenue from oil products. When it comes to royalties from oil production, we have gotten 133 percent of projected revenue. For the financial sector levy, we have gotten 133 percent of projected revenue.
“For the COVID-19 levy, we have gotten 170 percent of what we budgeted for. We have gotten 150 percent of the oil revenue we budgeted for. So, one can observe that Ghana is rather benefiting from the Russia-Ukraine war in terms of revenue when it comes to the government side,” he said in Twi.
Jinapor, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Yapei-Kusawgu, further stated that Ghanaians are going through a lot of hardship because the government has refused to use the windfall in revenues to bring some reprieve to the citizenry.
Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, during his speech at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, said that the Russia-Ukraine War was having a devastating impact on Ghana and other African countries.
“As we grappled with these economic challenges, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine burst upon us, aggravating an already difficult situation. It is not just the dismay that we feel at seeing such deliberate devastation of cities and towns in Europe in the year 2022; we are feeling this war directly in our lives in Africa.
“Every bullet, every bomb, every shell that hits a target in Ukraine, hits our pockets and our economies in Africa. The economic turmoil is global with inflation as the number one enemy this year,” the president said.
