The Minister-designate of Energy, John Jinapor, has noted that Ghana’s energy sector debt has increased to $3 billion.

He attributed the rise in debt to ineffective management and the growing interest on existing debt.

Appearing before the Appointments Committee on January 13, 2025, he stated:
“When we were leaving office, the consolidated debt stock was close to $2 billion. Fortunately, I have a document summarizing energy sector debts and lenders as of August 31, 2017. ESLA PLC conducted a full audit of the entire energy sector debts.

"I refer to page 17 of the document. The total energy sector liability at the time was GH₵9.4 billion. They used an exchange rate of 4.4. Using this rate, the debt was approximately $2.1 billion. Let me put on record that, at that time, when the debt was validated, it stood at $2.1 billion.”

Jinapor refuted claims that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) left an energy sector debt of $5 billion, stating that the official public record, validated by Parliament, pegged the debt at $2.1 billion as of that time.

He further noted that as chair of the energy subcommittee of the transition team, the debt had risen to $2.5 billion as of September 30, 2024. A subsequent reconciliation meeting with the Ministry of Energy, the Energy Commission, and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) confirmed that the debt had further escalated to $3 billion.

“As we speak today, the reconciled figure from official sources is $3 billion,” he emphasized.

Jinapor also referenced the Energy Sector Levies Act (ESLA), which has raised approximately GH₵45 billion over the years, which could be used to service part of the accumulated debts, including interest.

However, he noted that this amount is insufficient to fully address the debt crisis.



SSD/KA

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