The West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) has since June this year suspended supply of gas from Nigeria Gas to Ghana over unpaid bills by the Ghana government.
The Volta River Authority owes Nigeria’s N-Gas about $180 million, while N-Gas in turn owes the Pipeline Company $104 million.
The debt is however yet to be settled.
With the impending shutdown of the Kpone Thermal Plant next year, the fear of returning to the era of erratic power supply stares the country in the face.
Outgoing Finance Minister Seth Terkper says though the Mahama-led administration is restructuring the energy sector debt, it will be prudent to have fiscal discipline in the sector.
“We are still continuing with the restructuring of the energy sector debt. We have restructured 2.2 billion Ghana Cedis of VRA debt which we published. As we speak we are negotiating another tranche in the payment of the supplies. The support is also there; the energy levy,” he said
He, however, raised concerns about the need for the incoming Akufo-Addo government to maintain fiscal discipline, indicating that solving the country’s energy problems is part of reasons why ECG is being restructured.
According to Mr Terkper the economy is in good shape, saying there are enough buffers to sustain the economy.
Terkper debunked claims that the outgoing government has depleted state coffers, stating there is money in the coffers for the incoming government.
He explained that the outgoing Mahama administration did not use all the country’s resources but created buffers which can consolidate the economic stability achieved.
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