Ghana discovered oil in commercial quantities in July 2007 and production
began in December 2010. Despite the rapid boom in economic activities over the
last decade in the Western region of the country where the discovery and
production has been taking place, the benefits of the investments of the oil
revenue by government to the ordinary Ghanaian, have not been fully accessed.
This research establishes the relationship between the petroleum revenue from
the upstream sector collected by the government and the Human Development Index
(HDI) of Ghana using simple regression analysis. Quarterly data of oil revenues
from 2010 to 2018 were obtained from the Ministry of Finance while data on the livelihood of Ghanaians proxied by the HDI
were obtained from the UNDP. The study revealed a weak negative
relationship between petroleum revenue and HDI. It was also observed that an
increase in petroleum revenue either showed little or no impact on HDI. This is
against the usual notion that an increase in oil revenue should action an improvement in the livelihood of countrymen. Further probe revealed
that the quality of spending was low even though government increased revenue
and could not be seen in the livelihood of citizens. The study recommends
government to focus on strengthening its Public Interest and Accountability
Committee in exercising oversight responsibility on quality of spending to
ensure value for money for the state and its impact for the citizens.
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