A former Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, tells Ghanaian government not to touch Heritage Fund but resort to other sources to fight COVID-19

Speaking on Accra-based Atinka TV, Mr Terkper explained that it will not be prudent to draw from the Heritage Fund which is envisioned to provide support for the budget when Ghana is no longer receiving revenues from oil.

He recommended that the government must resort to other sources to fund the fight against COVID-19 and also cushion the economy from any negative effect.

He suggested that the government could resort to the Stabilisation Fund, which currently has $200 million in its fold IMF loans, the COVID-19 Trust Fund, and private initiatives among others to contain the disease.

He added that the government could also realign some of the loans that have been approved by Parliament, revealing that several loans amounting to $1billion have been approved by Parliament in the last three.

He argued that it has taken about a decade for the Heritage Fund to get $560 million and that it will take another decade to get these funds back if it is depleted now.

His comment is coming after the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, called for the amendment of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA) to permit the government to use portions of the Ghana Heritage Fund to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic.