Ghana records a decline in corporate taxes from oil producers in the 2nd half of 2019

This was contained in the Petroleum Funds report released by the Bank of Ghana.

The report stated that the government received $51 million less in corporate taxes between July and December, compared to January to June of 2019.

The Corporate Taxes reduced from $121 million to about $70 million between July to December 2019.

The report indicated that a company like Tullow Oil made no payment in Corporate Tax for the period under review.

This could partially be because Corporate Taxes are paid on the profits of companies, hence the inability of the oil producing company to pay anything to the state.

Also, the Surface rentals saw a drop of about $81 million. It recorded $514.2 million. The surface rentals is the amount paid to the state for leasing a size of land for oil production activities.

Meanwhile, total oil revenue for the second half of 2019 spanning July to December 2019, increased by about 39%; from $311.2 to about $432 million. This was attributed to the improvement in production from the Jubilee and TEN oilfields.

The Ghana Heritage Fund (GHF) which is for the future, increased by about $58 million to $579 million. But the Ghana Stabilization Fund (GSF) recorded a drop as at the end of December 2019.

This is because the fund, which is to provide budgetary support in times of shortfalls in expected petroleum revenues, saw a draw-down of $189 million for the six months.