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Company News of Monday, July 29, 2019
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2019-07-29
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The pro-government newspaper The Daily Statesman hinted that the finance minister would announce an increase in taxes on oil and mobile services today.
Ken Ofori-Atta will address parliament on Monday to ask for more money to meet priority and urgent infrastructure demands, such as the huge costs of saving the financial sector and paying heavy energy bills, such as roads, for example.
According to the newspaper, "the government intends to raise funds by reducing administrative costs, optimizing the use of resources and increasing taxes on the use of oil and mobile phones" .
Justification
This year alone, the government will provide $ 1 billion to subsidize the energy sector just to keep the light. Half of this will be for power that is not used but contracted.
Since last year, the government has failed to implement its ambitious but necessary infrastructure program due to energy bills and 14 billion GHS spent until the end of the year. now to save the financial sector.
Last November, the Minister of Finance had 78 771, 833, 602.12 and the GHS approved by Parliament. This amount is expected to increase by nearly one billion GHS if the government wants the resources to carry out all of its programs, despite the risks badociated with financing electricity bills and the financial sector.
Power agreements
The John Mahama Government's oil energy agreements (AAE) far exceeded the recommended reserve margin of 20%.
The 30 CAEs inherited from the Akufo-Addo government would have given Ghana a capacity of 10,000 MW over the next 13 years, compared to a peak demand of 2,400 MW in 2017.
In 2017, the government examined 26, based on the demand forecasts available at the time, which presumably informed contracts worth 10,000 MW. The review resulted in layoffs and postponements of others, saving the country $ 7 billion.
Currently, the installed capacity is 5,083 MW, the reliable capacity of 4.59 MW, with a peak demand of approximately 2,700 MW. This puts the installed capacity at twice what is required.
The government must pay 2,300 MW of this equipment, whether it is used or not. Only 40% of it is currently used. This means that more than 500 million dollars (2.5 billion GHS) are paid for unused electricity.
Excess gas
There is also the question of gas. The government recognizes that gas costs less than the current dependence on heavy fuel oil, about 35% less expensive. This is to transfer the fuel for electricity production mainly to gas.
A new policy is being developed, which would turn 80% into gas from the source of energy used for electricity generation. This will include domestic and imported gas, mainly liquefied natural gas.
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