Ghana’s vision is to become Africa’s mining hub
Government reaffirms commitment to remove bottlenecks in the mining industry
Small-scale miners will from January 1, 2022, no longer be required to pay the three-percent withholding tax on gold at the point of export through the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC).
The government had earlier indicated the scrapping of the three percent withholding tax on processed gold and replace it with the 1.5 percent withholding tax on unprocessed gold according to its fiscal policy.
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor, made this revelation, stating that “for the avoidance of doubt, there will be no tax collected at the point of export through the PMMC from small-scale miners." He was speaking in a virtual address at the 7th Ghana Mining Industry Awards (GMIA) held in Accra last Friday.
According to him, the decision was arrived at after a thorough stakeholders’ engagement on the merit of the three percent withholding tax policy.
Mr Jinapor described the theme as appropriate reaffirming the government’s commitment to remove bottlenecks in the gold value chain to create an enabling environment for responsible mining in the country and also in line with Ghana’s vision of becoming a mining hub in Africa where all mine and mine-related activities, from exploration to refining, from research to innovation, will thrive.
According to him, the best way to achieve that objective is for strong collaboration among the stakeholders in the mining industry.
The 7thGMIA awards was under the theme "Positioning Ghana as a mine support service hub in West Africa.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) implemented the three percent withholding tax policy on the export of gold from the country in 2019.
Notwithstanding, the Ghana National Association of Small-Scale Miners (GNASSM) together with some think tanks including the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) have made calls for the tax to be scrapped citing smuggling as a major consequence.
These concerns have however received positive feedback as the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources after engagements with the Ministry of Finance have reviewed the tax policy.
The Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, during his presentation of the 2022 budget also announced the review of the withholding tax policy on gold export by 50 per cent (1.5 per cent withholding tax on the sale of unprocessed gold).
gold shavings