Ghana to review budget estimates due to lower oil prices: Finance minister

 

Ghana's government is reviewing its 2015 budget estimates given a fall in the global crude oil price, which could have a negative impact on the current account balance and foreign exchange reserves, Finance Minister Seth Terkper said on Friday.

The West African state, which produces gold, cocoa and oil, is in talks with the International Monetary Fund on an assistance package designed to stabilise its economy amid high inflation and a wide budget deficit, so it is sensitive to any changes in its fiscal outlook.

"The required adjustments (to the budget estimates) will be done through the necessary procedures to ensure that the continued fall in the crude oil price does not derail our fiscal consolidation objectives," Terkper told journalists.

The government based its 2015 budget announced in November on a crude price of $99.736 per barrel, a figure derived using a formula based on legislation. Oil is currently trading below $50 a barrel.

Ghana began producing oil in 2010 and has a stabilization fund to protect against price shocks.

The economy grew at around 8 percent in recent years due to exports but GDP growth is expected to slow in 2015 to 3.9 percent, in part because of fiscal problems and a currency that slumped 31 percent last year.