The Executive Director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) Prof Newman Kusi has said the country’s ability to fund projects that will boost the economy depends on the non-oil sector.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, July 27, 2017 Prof Kusi said: “Even though the coming on stream of these new oil fields are jacking up the growth of the GDP, in terms of its effect through revenue available to the government, so it means that the government ability or the country’s ability to be able to fund all the other necessary projects that will grow the economy to increase the base of taxes term and increase revenue depends critically on the non-oil sector.”
According to him, the non-oil sector grows the economy during the first half of the year and attention must be paid to that sector.
“What we need to understand or coming back, we see that the growth rate of about six point something that we talked about was due entirely to the growth of the oil,” he noted.
He added: “As of now, if you take the oil, the crude oil production the government receives at length less than 20% of the total oil revenue that comes.”
“We should not be so much dependent or so much excited as to the fact that the TEN (Tweneboa, Enyenra, Ntomme) and Sankofa gas and oil are coming on stream,” he stressed.
He emphasized: “The most important thing that we need to ask ourselves is that, how much of the revenue that will be generated with the coming on stream of these new fields will come to government or come to the country to support our activities.”
“The answer is less than 20 per cent,” he predicted.
