President John Dramani Mahama has revealed that his government has paid a debt of about $1.7 billion that was owed the Independent Power Producers (IPPs).
The President noted that apart from the debt owed the IPPs, Ghana was consuming gas from Jubilee Field from ENI without paying for it and so he deemed it necessary to clean out the sector.
President Mahama announced that he has cleared the IPP debt and that every payment that is due them is to be made on due date, adding that he pays them regularly, leading to some IPPs wanting to expand.
Addressing the Ghanaian community in Moscow, President Mahama noted that, in 2012, he had inherited a World Bank guarantee of $500 million, which the previous NPP administration drew down completely to zero.
But he said he has built it back to about $500 million and as a result of that, ENI is ramped up and is giving the country more gas.
According to him, the oil and gas sector was down because the policies the previous government was implementing was not favourable to the oil operators, and so some of them parked and left Ghana.