Only a tiny fraction of the petroleum revenue earmarked for priority areas under the Annual Budget Fund Amount (ABFA) was allocated to the industrial sector in 2022.
Out of the total GH¢4.41 billion of petroleum revenue, only GH¢9.29 million (0.20% of the total amount disbursed under the ABFA and 4.29% of the GH¢216.3 million budgeted for the sector) was allocated to industrialization.
The remaining amount was disbursed to the agriculture sector, road, rail and other critical infrastructure development, and physical infrastructure and service delivery in education and health.
The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) in its 2022 report expressed concern over this development and suggested that the government should use petroleum revenue to build more industries for job creation and economic development.
The report also revealed that the agriculture priority area received GH¢95.84 million (2.20% of the total ABFA), with the entire disbursement used for capital expenditure.
Additionally, the infrastructure and service delivery in the education and health priority areas received GH¢1.20 billion (27.15% of the ABFA for the year), with the majority of the distribution used for goods and services towards the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) Programme.
The road, rail, and other critical infrastructure priority areas received GH¢3.10 billion (70.35% of the ABFA for 2022), and the entire disbursement was used for public investment expenditure (capital expenditure) for projects in the road sector, railways, and other infrastructure projects like the national electrification programme, water supply projects, drainage and flood control projects, among others.