The Managing Director of the Precious Minerals Marketing Company(PMMC) Nana Akwasi Awauh has revealed that Ghana has lost about 90 percent of foreign capital from gold proceeds due to smuggling abroad from May 2020 to present.
He’s confident that the recently inaugurated anti-gold smuggling taskforce by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources will plug in the loopholes.
“Our intel shows that it costs between $400 to $500 to smuggle 1kg of gold out of Ghana. If the exporter were to go through PMMC, it will cost him or her over $1,000 for 1kg of gold. We have information on the routes where the smuggling takes place and we’ve initiated moves and are working very hard to stop the illicit activity.
“We also did our own investigation on why people choose to smuggle gold abroad and realized that it was partly because of the 3% withholding tax on gold exports. So we deliberated on the issue and appealed to the government to review it. Thankfully, the tax has been reduced to 1.5% and we hope when the Parliamentary processes are concluded this will curb smuggling and rather work through PMMC,” Nana Akwasi Awuah told host Bonohene Baffour Awuah on ‘Ghana Kasa’ show on Kasapa FM/Agoo TV Wednesday.
He noted that proceeds from the sale of smuggled gold do not come to the State of Ghana and the illegal exporter is free to spend the money how he or she wants to.
“When gold is exported through the right channel (PMMC) the government is able to collect tax for development. Again, because the law on the exportation of gold says that 80% of the proceeds will have to come back to the country, it means that Ghana will have lots of foreign capital. If things were to be done right, the amount of foreign capital that comes in every month will have helped the economy to stabilize.” Nana Akwasi Awuah stated.
Source: Kasapafmonline.com/102.5FM
