July 8, 2015

Parliament has passed the Petroleum Revenue Amendment Bill (PRMA).

This follows the bill going through several stages of review in Parliament due to changes made to the original clauses that make up the Act.

The Bill seeks to amend the existing Act to provide for the allocation of Funds for the Ghana Infrastructure and Investment Funds (GIIF), address issues with the Ghana Stabilization Fund, the benchmark Revenue projection and further empower the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) to become a commercial entity and a strong operator in the oil and gas sector.

The Deputy Minister for Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, who earlier moved the motion for the Second Reading of the Bill Wednesday, noted that the various amendments will not only correct the typographical and other errors in the Act but also ensure constant flow of revenue from the petroleum sector.

He pointed out that the amended version of the petroleum revenue management regime will provide for the allocation of funds to the Ghana Infrastructure Fund for the purposes of infrastructure development.

Presenting the Report of the Finance Committee on the Bill, the Chairman of the Committee, James Avedzi, said the amendment was to provide for the composition of the Investment Advisory Committee.