Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Presidential Spokesperson and Minister of State in charge of Government Communications, has praised the GH¢1.00 fuel levy for helping to reduce debt in Ghana’s energy sector.

Ghana introduced the GH¢1.00 per litre fuel levy under the Energy Sector Levies (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act 1141). The levy took effect on July 16, 2025, and was designed to raise money to support the energy sector, particularly to clear outstanding debts and close funding gaps.

Speaking at the maiden 2026 Government Accountability Series Press Conference at the Presidency in Accra, Mr Ofosu explained that the levy was created to deal with a major problem in the power sector.

According to him, Ghana spends huge amounts of money importing liquid fuel to power thermal plants, but these costs were not properly included in electricity tariffs.

“The estimates show that on a yearly basis, about $1.2 billion or so is required for the purpose of importing liquid fuels to fire thermal plants,” he said.

“Now, if some effort is not made to bridge this gap, it will pose a challenge, though some efforts are being made to address the many problems that plague the sector which we inherited.”

Mr Ofosu said the ministry of finance would provide full details on how much money is collected from the GH¢1.00 fuel levy through its annual petroleum receipts reports and budget accounting to Parliament.

He stressed, however, that the levy had already been used effectively.

“But what is clear is that it has been put to good use and has contributed significantly to achieving stability in the power sector,” he said.

He noted that electricity supply has improved significantly since the government took office.

“When we took over power, there were challenges with electricity stability, and I think all of us can attest that the electricity supply has been stable for several months now. We’ve not experienced the outages that many have feared would be the case.”

On energy-sector debts, Mr Ofosu referred to a statement from the Ministry of Finance which said that about $1.4 billion owed to the sector had been paid.

He explained that this amount did not represent all the debt cleared, but showed that a large portion had been settled within a year, bringing relief to companies in the sector.

“What had happened was that there was some lack of discipline in terms of adherence to the cash waterfall mechanism,” he said.

He explained that the mechanism was meant to ensure fair distribution of funds to all players in the energy sector, but some Independent Power Producers (IPPs) were not receiving enough money to operate effectively.

According to him, the Ministers for Finance and Energy have now enforced this system properly.

“That is why money is trickling to all the players in the sector, and we are achieving the stability that we have achieved,” he said.

Mr Ofosu added that the government remains committed to paying off the remaining energy-sector debts and opening up more financing opportunities for the sector.