Ghana’s state-owned Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) is grappling with a ballooning debt of $517mn, its management has revealed, attributing the liability to a mix of trade arrears, legacy obligations, and recent reclassifications of grants under the country’s IMF agreement.

Speaking to reporters after an appearance before Parliament’s Energy Committee, TOR’s acting managing director, Edmund Kombat, said the refinery’s financial woes were exacerbated by years of unpaid crude oil supplies and non-hedged trades.

“Some of it, for example, was grant and then when they entered into the IMF, the IMF asked them to reclassify it as debt. So those things have accumulated to that amount of money,” Citi News quoted Kombat as saying.

He added that past transactions left TOR financially exposed, especially when trades were not hedged.

The disclosure comes at a critical time as Ghana attempts to stabilise its public finances under a $3bn Extended Credit Facility with the IMF. Reclassifying certain grants to liabilities is part of the broader fiscal consolidation measures under the deal.