The Ministry of Finance on Wednesday launched the 2017/2018 Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) reports on mining, oil and gas in Accra.

The reports were to, among other things, ensure that Ghana’s natural resource revenue data were widely available to the public to empower them with the requisite information to be active participants in the natural resources governance of the country.

It is the 14th report for the mining sector and the seventh for the oil and gas sector.

Mr Kweku Kwarteng, the Deputy Minister of Finance in charge of Revenue, said given the strategic prominence of minerals, oil and gas sectors to the economy, there was the need for transparency in the judicious management of such revenues.

Data from the Bank of Ghana on export proceeds on the mining sector declined by 3.7 per cent from US$6.004 billion in 2017 to US$5.779 billion in 2018.

The mining sector's contribution to Ghana's total revenues recorded a marginal increase unti1 2018 when it dropped from GHc2.1bn in 2017 to GHc1.44bn in 2018.

Mr Kwarteng said gold export earnings in 2018 amounted to US$5.46 billion compared to US$5.79 billion in 2017. The decline was largely driven by a shortfall in volumes. The volume of gold exported decreased by 7.6 per cent to 4,264,664 fine ounces, while the average realised price increased by 2.1 per cent to US$1,280.61 per fine ounce during the period.

The consolidated annualised average production of crude oil in 2018 was 171,975 bopd, compared with 160,711 bopd in 2017. Natural gas production also came to 278 MMScf/d in 2018, compared with 83 MMScf/d in 2017.

He said in the face of price volatility and current challenges with respect to international commodity prices, government was working assiduously to ensure that the revenues from the extractive resources were prudently managed and utilized for the benefit of the people, especially those immediately impacted by such activities.

He encouraged the oil and gas companies to work and collaborate more with the newly established Ghana Upstream Petroleum Chamber (GUPC) and the GUPC to continue to collaborate with the Ghana Chamber of Mines to learn from each other and share experiences.

“Government will continue to support and strengthen the work of governance mechanisms such as the GHEITI to provide regular information on all material revenues received by government from the extractive sector. We will also ensure that such information is made available to all the stakeholders in a publicly accessible, comprehensive and comprehensible manner.”

Dr Steve Manteaw, the Co-Chair of GHEITI, called for wide ranging policy reforms, especially in the mining sector, to ensure better use of extractive resources.

Mrs Christiana Bobobee, the Administer, Office of the Administration of Stool Lands, who chaired the programme, expressed the hope that the findings and recommendations of the report would be used to improve governance and transparency in the extractive sector, which would, in turn, lead to the improvement in the lives of the people.