Government’s mounting debt to the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has surged to a staggering $1.25 billion, as of December 2024, raising red flags over the financial sustainability of the National Oil Company and its ability to support the country’s energy ambitions.
The alarming figure, revealed in the latest report of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), paints a picture of deepening fiscal stress and governance lapses in the management of petroleum resources.
The report attributes the sharp rise in liabilities to unrecovered budgetary support and fresh loan guarantees extended by GNPC on behalf of government entities despite persistent warnings from PIAC to halt such quasi-fiscal operations. This practice, the Committee warned, is eroding the Corporation’s balance sheet and diverting it from its core mission of driving upstream petroleum development.
“This continued use of GNPC as an off-the-books financier for government shortfalls is not only financially reckless it is structurally unsustainable,” PIAC stated, urging immediate reforms to preserve GNPC’s autonomy and operational viability.
The current debt burden represents a dramatic escalation from 2021, when cumulative arrears stood at $318 million. Over the years, GNPC has increasingly been leaned on to plug budget gaps, even as repayments remain elusive. Analysts fear that the Corporation’s growing exposure could scare off strategic investors and compromise the execution of key oil and gas infrastructure projects, including Ghana’s ongoing push to monetize its natural gas assets.
GNPC, a critical player in ensuring energy security and advancing Ghana’s upstream potential, is now caught in a policy paradox mandated to act commercially but burdened with political obligations. If the current trajectory continues, experts warn, the Corporation may face significant liquidity constraints, reduced bargaining power with international partners, and impaired capacity to deliver long-term value.
Calls are mounting for government to ring-fence GNPC’s resources, establish repayment timelines, and end the practice of leveraging the Corporation for short-term fiscal relief. PIAC’s report concludes with a sobering reminder: without bold corrective action, Ghana risks compromising not just a national asset, but the broader vision of energy-led economic transformation.
