“The Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) has failed to retrieve an amount of US$21.3 million and GH¢ 4million from the sale of five state-owned enterprises to private individuals and institutional investors.
“The assets were sold between 2009 and 2013 at a total cost of US$30.7 million and GH¢6million but less than 30 per cent of the amount due the state has been retrieved.”
“Even with the payments made so far from the divestiture, no amount has been transferred into the Consolidated Fund as required by the Financial Administration Act,” the Minister of Finance, Mr Seth Terkper, stated this when he appeared before Parliament to answer a question posed by the member for Akwapim South, Mr Osei Bonsu Amoah.
Mr Amoah had asked the minister to provide the list of the number of state-owned enterprises divested since 2009 and the details of the divestiture.
He had also sought to know why the government, contrary to Section 10 of the Financial Administration Act, had not made any payment into the Consolidated Fund.
Companies
Mr Tekper named the companies as the Tema Printing Press, Ghana Consolidated Diamond Company, Subri Industrial Plantation Limited, GIHOC Footwear Company Limited and GAMA Film Company Limited.
Mr Terkper explained that the Tema Printing Press was divested for US$3 million, out of which US$1.1 million had been paid, leaving a balance of US$1.9 million.
He said a total of US$3.2 million out of a purchase price of US$17 million for the Ghana Consolidated Diamond Company had been paid.
According to him, the Subri Industrial Plantation Ltd was sold for US$10 million with only US$5 million having been paid.
GIHOC Footwear Company Ltd was divested to a joint venture company for US$700,000, out of which US$70,000 had been paid, leaving a balance of US$630,000.
Turning the spotlight on the divestiture of the GAMA Film Company Limited, he said the company was sold for GH¢6 million with only GH¢1.6 million having been paid leaving a balance of GH¢4.4 million yet to be paid.
He said the board of the DIC had directed the secretariat to present a recovery plan for all outstanding amounts and added that the amounts would be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
Petroleum formula
The minister also told the House that an amount of GH¢327.6 million was used to subsidise fuel in 2014.
Answering questions on whether the government made allocations in the 2014 budget to subsidise petroleum products, the minister indicated that the policy direction on petroleum subsidies in the budget was to adopt the automatic petroleum price adjustment formula.
He said the government planned to adjust petroleum prices at regular intervals to minimise the adverse impact that the subsidies would have on the budget, business operations and consumer activities.
“In the original 2014 budget, an amount of GH¢50 million was estimated to be spent on petroleum subsidies. As a result of the delay in the adjustment of petroleum prices in the early months of 2014, subsidies accumulated and the supplementary budget made provision for an additional amount of GH¢277.6 million to cater for the subsidies,” he said.
<<Print>>