GH ¢ 186m are mainly charges on inherited debts – TOR

By Laudia Sawer, RNG

Tema, July 23
GNA – The Tema Petroleum Refinery (TOR) claims that the alleged loss of GH related to the loss of 186,349
In four months, the refinery has mainly incurred charges on debts inherited from the past.

A declaration
signed by Mr. Daniel Appiah, Chief Financial Officer, stated that "the amount in
The question (186 million ¢) was mainly due to financial interests
expense and exchange rate differences on TOR outstanding debts not yet settled.
paid from ESLA products; and not because of commercial or transactional activities by
TOR".

Mr. Appiah
indicated that TOR's total historical debt as at April 30, 2019 was GH ¢ 1.85.
billions of dollars after ESLA PLC paid a total of 1.1 billion Gh ¢.

Give the
The Chief Financial Officer noted that 999,557 GH ¢ were allocated.00 and GH ¢ 19,350.00 were exchange
the difference and the financial charges, respectively, of the inherited debts that formed
59.87% of a total of 198 610 GH ¢.00

The rest
79 703 Ghana Cedis, or 40.13% of the total, were earmarked for
operational while GH ¢ 12,261.00 was obtained
of the figure as "less gross profit" and said GH ¢ 186 349.00 recorded as "net loss".

according to
As stated in TOR's internal management report, the refinery has made a
gross profit during the first four months of this year, indicating that "the mandate is a
potentially profitable business ".

Mr. Appiah
said TOR had been facing liquidity problems for some time
culminating in the inability of the company to execute its annual budgets.

"TOR's revenues
Targets are not achieved due to lack of working capital to purchase crude
oil for treatment on a continuous basis. However, fixed costs continue to be
engaged, "he said.

He added that
lack of working capital, a number of efficiency improvement projects had
blocked while some were still starting to improve the profitability of the
business.

It however
indicated that TOR received support from the Government of Ghana through the
The Ministries of Finance and Energy will revolve around the fate of the refinery.

GNA