Ghana's Ministry of Finance rejected claims on October 23, 2026, that it hid oil revenue details from state monitors. The ministry stated that it gave full records to the Public Interest and Accountability Committee, known as PIAC. Officials explained that government protected the total 2026 Annual Budget Funding Amount to build the Accra to Kumasi Expressway.
The dispute started after PIAC released its 2026 Semi-Annual Report on October 21 without spending records for the oil fund. The committee tracks how the government spends national oil money. Ministry officials said they met with the committee online and in person to explain the numbers before publication. They insisted that the empty reporting slot does not mean the government hid any official files.
Ghana manages oil income through the Annual Budget Funding Amount, which gives the national budget a direct share of petroleum receipts. Paragraph 572 of the 2026 Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review orders officials to lock up these funds for the major highway. Ring-fencing means government saves money for one specific purpose so nobody spends it on small items. The state will release the cash as soon as contractors win the road building deals.
This spending choice responds to long-standing complaints from economic analysts and PIAC itself. For many years, watchdog groups warned that spreading oil cash across hundreds of tiny projects produced little economic growth. The state now wants to concentrate petroleum earnings on large infrastructure that creates clear national value. The road between Accra and Kumasi carries major commercial freight and links southern ports to northern trading routes.
The ministry also addressed public worries about local council budgets. Critics argued that protecting oil money for the highway deprived local governments of their legal revenue. The ministry stated that local assemblies still received their statutory five percent share through the main national accounts, known as the Consolidated Fund. Officials confirmed that municipal and district assemblies received every cedi owed to them under the law.
"The exclusion of ABFA utilisation data from PIAC’s report should therefore not be presented as evidence that the Ministry withheld information," the ministry stated. Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson maintained that the Treasury operates with open records. The ministry noted that citizens can inspect these figures in the Annual Report on Petroleum Funds and the official Budget Statements.
Parliamentary leaders and energy analysts will inspect the upcoming national budget to track the locked oil funds. Market watchers want to see whether contractor procurement for the expressway proceeds without delays. Clear accounting remains vital for Ghana as international investors examine the country's public financial management and debt controls.