Coronavirus: Arguments against usage of Heritage Fund needless – Pratt

Managing Editor of the Insight, Kwesi Pratt Jnr has opposed arguments that says government should not commit revenue from the Ghana Heritage Fund (GHF) to deal with the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on the Ghanaian economy.

Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana, he raised concerns about the need for the Finance Minister to head to the Heritage Fund for rescue as the country needs it now.

Mr Pratt believes that the country is currently faced with an emergency over the COVID-19 which requires huge sums of money to fight the pandemic.

“I am not too comfortable by those who are kicking against taking money from the Heritage Fund. Wherever there is money belonging to the people of Ghana let us bring it to fight this coronavirus. It doesn’t matter whether it is Heritage Fund.

“Why keep money for the future when the present needs money? You can’t have that future if you don’t secure today so I don’t buy those arguments that we should not take money from the Heritage Fund. This is an argument we should not be entertaining now. We have a national emergency, we have a situation to fight and we should deal with it,” he said.

He further explained that the present situation will need to be stabilized in order to give a bright future, hence, the GHF should be used by the government immediately.

The Heritage Fund was established to mobilise funds from the oil sector for the future generations.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta on Monday March 30, 2020 asked Parliament to amend the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (ACT 815) to enable the government use the access funds.

However, the move was met with several criticisms from civil societies and political parties.

The Finance Minister revealed that there is an estimated US$591.1 million in the Ghana Heritage Fund.

Source: www.ghanaweb.com