The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has denied engaging in a ‘Sweetheart Deal’ with Fidelity Bank.
A ‘Sweetheart Deal’ is an agreement reached privately by two sides in an unofficial or illicit manner.
The ECG’s denial is in reaction to media reports that it facilitated the loss of about GHS80million to the country by purchasing USD43m for the payment of IPPs at a rate of GHC13.95 to the US Dollar in October 2023, when the market rate was below GHC12.0 per Dollar.
“For the month of October, ECG procured a total amount of USD10.75million through Fidelity Bank at rates varying between 11.825 and 11.965. The circulating cash waterfall spreadsheet that suggests that 43million USD was procured at a rate of 13.95 is a standard estimation sheet and does not represent the actuals,” the power distribution company said in a press release signed by its Director of Communication, Mr William Boateng.
“The actual rates at which forex is procured have been duly reported to Government at various presentations,“ Mr Boateng added.
The Company stated the quantum and rates it purchased the dollar in a table as depicted below:
It explained that “Fidelity was appointed the operator of the single account in 2023 after the finalization of the Cabinet’s decision to operate such an account. The appointment was based on the merit of the efficiency and responsiveness in ECG’s prior dealings with Fidelity Bank.”
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The press release stated further that “The banking relations of ECG with Fidelity Bank dates far back to 2012. Fidelity has served as a collection bank for ECG and has been a financing bank for various ECG projects. In 2017, ECG in a consortium with GCB Bank structured and expressed interest in providing the single collection account service for ECG to optimize ECG’s management of collections and vendor payments. Irrespective of the above, Fidelity Bank continued to provide collection services outperforming most of its peers.”
