Foreigners ordered to exit the local trading market to increase revenue

Ghana banned all foreigners from trading on the local gold market as part of efforts to raise national revenue and optimize the country’s mining sector.

The following is the entry into force of a new law earlier this month, which provides exclusive authority for gold extraction to a new state body, Gold Gold Board (Goldbod).

“All foreigners are informed to leave the local gold market for gold from April 30, 2025,” Goldbod spokesman Prince Kukm Minka said in a statement.

Ghana is the largest gold producer in Africa and the sixth largest in the world, but is struggling to cope with the widespread illegal gold extraction, at the local Galamasi.

The west -rich Western African country faces high economic times with a high cost of life. This is the second largest cocoa producer in the world, but sees a little of the chocolate profits.

Nourished by the increase in gold prices and the unemployment of youth, the illegal gold extraction is increasing in Ghana, despite military operations to close Galamasi’s activities. It was a big question about the campaign in the lead until the December elections in December.

Chinese citizens are active in the informal Ghana extraction and together with Gane citizens, they have been repeatedly accused of ignoring environmental concerns.

According to the new law, adopted by Parliament last month and agreed by President John Mahama on April 2, Goldbod is the only buyer, seller and exporter of all gold produced by the Crafts and Small Mine (ASM) sector.

However, foreigners can apply for the purchase or beyond themselves gold directly from Goldbod, but they can no longer work within the local chain of gold value.

Locles of the local dealers have also been canceled, but have received a grace period to allow a smooth transition before the directive will come into force next month.

During this period, gold transactions will only be carried out in Ghana Sedis, the local currency and prices based on the tariffs of the bank of Ghana.

Goldbod warned that “it is a punishable crime for a person to buy or deal with gold in the country without a license issued by the new council.

The government has allocated $ 279 million (212 pounds) to the new body to buy and export at least three tonnes of gold a week.

This move aims to help increase currency tributaries and stabilize local currency, said Finance Minister Cassel Atto Forson.

But Kwaku Effah Asuahene, chairman of the House of Ghana Bar Traders, fears that the government may not be able to raise enough revenue to buy all the gold.

He told the BBC that while supporting the initiative, they would prefer to be allowed to partner with foreign investors to buy gold and export it via Goldbod.

Although Goldbod has not been designed to specifically deal with illegal yield, the new directive can also make it difficult for illegal miners to sell gold in the country.

Ghana deals with severe environmental pollution caused by the activity of illegal miners and over 60% of the country’s water bodies are affected.

The prohibition is seen as the first specific step by President Mahama’s new administration to tighten the regulation and control of the gold sector and fulfill its promises to fight Galamasi.

“He sends a strong message to foreign participants – especially Chinese operations – who have been touring local laws for years,” AFP Nana Asante Krobea, a mining management consultant, told The AFP.

He said that if applied correctly, the new law could strengthen the revenue from the government and “submit some order in the chaos in the gold sector.”

The export of gold to Ghana grew by 53.2% to $ 11.64 billion last year – nearly $ 5 billion from it was from legal small miners.

Gold prices came to $ 3,200 an ounce last week due to trade tensions between the US and China, which forced investors to seek asylum in the goods due to insecurity.